Star Fox: A City in Turmoil
by Ben540
Summary: Krystal,Fox,and Marcus find a strange animal attacking Corneria but as they look at the young fox he seems to dissolve into the air itself, as all destruction he alone caused disappears.They get a call as things go deeper than they originally thought...
1. Prologue

_**DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN STARFOX OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS! I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONGS!**_

_A.N. First of all I'd like to put out a shout out to "**Shadow Commando**" for persuading me into writing this story. I might not have started this one if it wasn't for him (or her, I don't really know lol). OK guys this one is a little different than what I'm used to writing, but it will be to the best of my ability. I will continue "**Star Fox: Alternate Beginnings**" but I want to start this one. I don't know how long it will be, you'll get some estimates though. Right now my estimate is at 20 chapters. Let's get this started shall we?_

_Prologue_

Krystal, Fox, and their eight year old son, Marcus, all laid next to each other staring up at the stars from the surface of Sauria, their new home. Laying under the stars had become something they did everyday, as they lay there Fox pointed to a particularly beautiful star formation in the shape of a fox.

"That's the star formation that they named after your grandpa James, Marcus." Fox explained, "They say that the star in the middle of his chest is actually his soul, forever protecting the Lylat system. Normally it would only be visible if we were on Corneria, but once a year it can be seen from every planet in our solar system. Do you know what day that is?" Fox asked the little blue furred fox.

"It's on my birthday!" Marcus cheered

"That's right, and I have a gift for ya." Fox said getting up, "Close your eyes, no peeking."

As Marcus shut his eyes Fox sprinted off to their house, as he went through the door he ran up the ten stairs to his and Krystal's bedroom. He rushed to his closet and pulled out the gift he and Krystal got for Marcus. He jumped down the stairs three at a time and was back at his family's side within 40 seconds. He wasn't even winded. Krystal smiled and chuckled.

"Ok Marcus open your eyes." Fox said smiling holding out the gift towards Marcus.

As soon as his eyes opened the gift was snatched from his father's paws and the wrapping paper was carefully but quickly taken off. Marcus' eyes went wide when he picked the item out of the box it came in, "A communicator!" he cheered.

"Yup," Fox said, "You just put it on your wrist like this..." he said taking the wrist communicator and placing it on the young fox's wrist. "Then you press this button to add someone's number into it.," he said entering his and Krystal's individual numbers into his contacts list. "Now that you have me and your mother's numbers you can call us any time you want just by pushing this button right...here." he explained pointing to a button, "try it." he smiled

Marcus pushed a button and Fox's communicator started to ring, "It works!" Marcus smile was huge.

Fox chuckled, "Yeah and when I want to talk to the person calling me I push this button," he said pointing to Marcus' communicator, then pushing the button on his, "Then I can just talk like this and you can here my voice from it!" Fox said holding his wrist up to his muzzle.

As Fox continued to explain how the gift worked to Marcus, Krystal looked once again to the star formation in the sky, and she smiled a bit, but her smile faded as she looked to her left to see the faint image of planet Corneria. Their was only one ship, but small explosions could be seen on the planet's surface. What's worse was that the ship had Katina's military logo on it.

"Fox!" she yelled looking to him.

Fox's head snapped up from Marcus to Krystal, "What? What's wrong?

"Look!" she said sitting up and pointing to Corneria, "Katina is attacking Corneria! We have to go over there and see what's the matter." she said

Fox picked up Marcus and he and Krystal sprinted to their Arwings. "Krystal, you take Marcus." he said handing him over.

Krystal took him and no one said a word as they sped off toward Corneria. As they landed they found a gruesome sight. Bodies lay in pools of blood, buildings lay collapsed, and cars are overturned and on fire. As they looked around however, they found no bullet holes in anything, not even bodies. When they looked for explosive shrapnel that could have cause the buildings to collapse and the cars to blow up, they found none. The only thing they found were claw and bite marks on anything dead or destroyed. Fox held Marcus in his arms and covered his eyes the whole time they were there. Not wanting him to see any of it. As they turned down another street they found a mass pile of bodies in the middle of it, As they looked at the wreckage they noticed a single animal standing in on top of the pile of bodies, his fur was stained red from all the blood, and his clothing was ripped. As they looked at the animal, it's face twisted into a sinister and bloody smile. The animal began to dissolve into the air itself, as the world around them grew lighter as everything began turning back to normal. The animals were all alive again and nothing was destroyed, and the animal was nowhere to be found, but his spine chilling laugh could still be heard.

"...the f-c-?" Fox and Krystal asked themselves. "What the f-c- is going on?" they said as they looked around them at all the perfectly fine animals walking a chatting.

_**A.N. OK that's my new story...I hope it becomes everything I want and expect it to be.**_

_**Read, Review, Enjoy**_

"_**I am the truth"**_

_**-Ben540-**_


	2. Chapter 1  Long Thought Dead

_**DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN STARFOX OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS! I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONGS!**_

_**Author's Note: **_

_**Fanfiction cut off a part of my story, so here is my reupload.**_

_**Alright after that awesome cliff-hanger, (aren't I so nice?) chapter 1 is finally here. This one took WAY longer than I wanted it to take, but School started...dad was in the hospital, (he's okay now, thank god)... blah blah blah**_

_**I've been busy sorry...I also wrote this over about 2 times already, cuz I wasn't happy with it...This is going to get confusing before you understand it, but I promise you will understand, so keep reading! R&R and enjoy. Oh and Merry Christmas (Yeah I celebrate Christmas), Happy Kwanzaa (Did I spell Kwanzaa right?), Happy New Year! and whatever. As of March 13, 2011: Happy Almost St. Patrick's Day, and also, Happy Almost Freaking Easter.**_

__

_**Green Day- Murder City -**_

_**Desperate  
But not hopeless  
I feel so useless  
In the murder city**_

Desperate  
But not helpless  
The clock strikes midnight  
In the murder city

I'm wide awake  
After the riot  
This demonstration  
Of our anguish  
...

__

_**Chapter 1-Long Thought Dead- **_

"Check Targeting Optics..."

"Good"

"Double check Illusion Producer..."

"All good here."

"Any bugs in Behaver Core?"

"Only one but it should clear up when we start it up."

"If anything happens it's on your ass."

"Copy that."

"Double check Weapon Generation..."

"All good."

"Triple check Cell Regeneration..."

"...Working at one hundred percent."

"Strength and Speed?"

"Fifty-times O'Donnell's."

"Out fucking standing! Check movement..."

The invention moved, "Perfect."

"Pain Tolerance?"

"Ten times McCloud's, but too much will cause his behaver core to fail. After that...we're screwed, he gets all of his memories back and he won't forget a damn thing from after we started the experiments."

"Whatever...set it to fifty percent power and then take that mother fucker to the firing range and check it's sniping."

"You sure? After what happened last time? I mean there is still the possibility that it'll happen again."

"That's an order Lieutenant."

"Yes sir."

A chestnut vixen walked out of the large metal room, followed by a vulpine with black fur, no older than seventeen years old, "Alright buddy, lets go shoot some shit."

"You think I could use Leon as a target this time?" the young vulpine asked, almost pleading.

The vixen laughed, "As much as I wish you could, Leon is our main weapon knowledge, without him you wouldn't know what to do with most of the weapons we got you."

The two foxes began walking down the long metal hallway, their boots clacking against the floor, "Yeah but now that we have all the weapons do we really need him? I mean that guy is a jerk."

The two foxes rounded the corner and walked through one of the many doors, "Sorry kid, we still need him to teach you how to handle all of the weapons." the vixen looked to her side at a green chameleon, who was leaning against the weapon rack, "Hey Leon, we need to test X's sniping."

Leon took an M110 SASS rifle off the weapons rack and threw it at the young vulpine who caught it mid-air, without saying a word Leon took a spotter scope and tossed it at the vixen, "Go, lane ten. Now."

"Someone's cranky today huh?" the vixen laughed.

"Don't test me Vivian." Leon growled.

The pair of foxes walked down the line of sniping lanes, each one occupied with a young animal, each had the word 'Project' on their shirt's left sleeve. A symbol lay below, some had numbers, others had letters. Below the symbol was the animals name. The young vulpine looked to his own sleeve, he read it over and over every night, sometimes not getting any sleep. He over heard a conversation between Vivian and 'the boss' once; the booming voice of Vivian's boss had been arguing with her, telling her that he was 'just another failure' how he should be killed and tossed aside like all the rest, but she defended him, he had come to like the chestnut furred vixen. He enjoyed it when they would talk, and hated not being around her. But he found that the other teenagers were always by themselves, practicing or studying battle tactics, not wanting to talk or be anywhere near another animal. Most, if not all, the animals were better at everything whether it was combat, studies, or even something as simple as personal hygiene. Vivian told him that they were going to make him the same as everyone else, but the more they did to his body, the more he felt like an outsider. All the other animals stared at him when he would walk by, and if he tried to do something as simple as wave they would gather up whatever they were doing and duck out of the room. Before he could reminisce about anything else, Vivian snapped him out of his thoughts, "Alright Geoff, here we are." she said. He sighed as turned to the lane.

"How far is the target?" he asked.

"One thousand yards." she replied.

"I feel like your doubting my skills."

"Geoff your target is the furthest on this range."

"And?"

"Just shut up and shoot." Vivian lay down next to the sandbags and looked through her spotter scope. "Whenever your ready, fire it standing up, then kneeling down, then fire it prone."

Geoff plodded up next to Vivian and pointed the rifle at the target and took a deep breath before he looked through the scope. He took aim at the target's head and took another deep breath, this one he held, as he listened to his heartbeat, using it as a metronome, he slowly depressed the trigger between beats. _CRACK_, the rifle slammed back into his shoulder as he pulled the trigger. "Right between the eyes." he smiled. He knelt down and took another few deep breathes. He trained the sights onto the left cheek of the target, and pulled the trigger once more. As the gun once again slammed into his shoulder he smiled and went prone, resting the rifle on the sandbags. He trained his sights onto the groin of the target and pulled the trigger eight times, resulting in a horribly painful sight to appear on the target. "That's gotta hurt." he laughed.

_**-Marcus, Krystal, and Fox-**_

Fox handed Marcus to Krystal as he pulled his blaster from it's holster, and then began walking to the building across the street, as if against his will, getting cursed at by all the drivers' cars he walked in front of. He could hear Marcus and Krystal yelling his name from across the street, but he couldn't turn around, and he couldn't speak, he felt as if someone was controlling him like a common marionette. One at a time everyone around him began to disappear into the air. Fox began to regain control over his body and he spun on his heels, pointing his blaster in all directions, but instead of Krystal and Marcus, he saw a faint, bloody, smile. The smile began to slowly float toward him and he fired madly at it, hoping to kill what ever it was, but when a few shot actually hit their mark, the smile was unharmed and continued it's approach with no hesitation. When he tried to call out to his family he found his voice was not there. When he tried to turn and run he found that once again he had no control over his own body. His legs felt numb and were planted to the ground, his arms where limp at his sides, and he had no control over his head. His heart pounded against his chest, trying to break free, as the smile approached the confused vulpine a vixen's body began to fade in around it, as it took the color of a familiar blue his eyes went wide, "Krystal?" he could only come up with a whisper as his voice slowly came back to him. The smile on the vixen's face became bigger as a small dagger shape appeared into her paw. She lunged at the defenseless vulpine and stabbed him in the shoulder, causing his blaster to drop to the empty void that was the ground. Fox screamed in pain, a stab to the shoulder hurt like hell, but when your wife was holding the dagger, it hurt just about ten times worse. The image of his blue furred lover slowly changed, the fur became the shade of his own, as her clothing changed to that of his fathers and her shape formed into that of a man's, it was a perfect model of James McCloud. The dagger was pulled from Fox's shoulder, and stabbed into his other. Another scream came from the vulpine's muzzle as the dagger pierced his hide. Once again the dagger was pulled from his shoulder as the image changed. The fur once again became blue, but the image shrank to a small child, his child. The small dagger looked like a short sword in the young kit's paws, but that didn't stop him from stabbing it fiercely into his father's foot. Fox fell to his knees from the pain as the vision changed into Falco, the dagger in his hand was thrust into Fox's stomach, right above his belly button, causing tears to fall from the vulpine's eyes. As his vision began to blur he saw more figures fade into existence around him, they were all animals in which he knew and cared for. They all carried the same small dagger, and wore the same sick smile. As they approached him he began to cry, not from pain, but the feeling of being killed by his friends. His tears stained his fur by the time they reached him, but right as two blades made long gashes across his chest he suddenly appeared on a hospital bed. He quickly shot up in a clod sweat, but hissed at a terrible pain throughout his body. He looked down to his chest where bloody bandages were wrapped around him. He stared at his foot which, too, had bloody bandages wrapped around it. As a soft and warm paw was placed on his shoulder he looked to his side at his wife.

"What happened to you Fox?" she asked "You just collapsed after walking across the street...when we got to you, you had all these cuts and stab wounds."

Fox's voice was weak and shaky, "You...you guys...all my friends..."

-_**Krystal's Point of View-**_

Fox placed Marcus into her arms and drew his blaster, before walking into the middle of the street, cars missing him by inches. "FOX! WHAT THE _HECK_ ARE YOU DOING!" she screamed. No reply. She yelled at the vulpine again, but her words fell upon deaf ears and Fox kept walking. Marcus joined in on yelling for his father, but stopped short as a yelp came out of Krystal's muzzle when someone bumped into her. "Oh sorry miss, I guess I wasn't paying any attention." the stranger said when Krystal turned around to face him. "Yeah well you should pay attention next time!" she yelled, "You almost made me drop my kid!". The pure black fox winced, "I'm sorry..." he said again.

The fox whispered something into Krystal's ear before he left. And her reply shocked Marcus.

"K, FKM96."

"X, FKM97."

Krystal grunted before turning back to where Fox was walking. As she turned around, she saw that Fox was laying in a pool of blood, his left arm was separated from his shoulder down and both his legs were in the same condition. She let out a loud and deafening scream before bursting across the street, dodging cars while her tears clouded her vision. A silver Mercedes was sitting in her path, the keys left in the ignition and all the doors left wide open. She expertly slid over the hood without breaking her stride or dropping Marcus and continued running. When she approached her husband four figures were kneeling next to the mangled and unconscious body, three wolves and a fox, she continued running until she was next to Fox's body. When she reached him she dropped to her knees and placed Marcus looking away from the vulpine. She looked around at the family that was trying to tend to Fox, "Wolf?".

"What's up?" Wolf replied still trying to stop Fox's bleeding.

"That's all you're gonna say?" she snorted.

"I'm sorry but I'm to busy trying to save your husbands life to have a conversation." Wolf retorted.

"Right...sorry...so what happened to him?" she asked.

"I don't know but who ever did that to his limbs has to be pretty fucking strong, and skilled with a knife." Wolf said pointing to Fox's separated limbs. "The cuts are completely clean, nothing jagged, even that X on his chest, completely clean."

"Did you see anything though?" she pushed on.

"If I saw anything, why the _hell_ would I be keeping it a secret?" Wolf growled.

Krystal shrugged, "I don't know, you have a pulse from him?"

Wolf moved his hand to Fox's neck, "Yeah really faint though I think if w- uh oh."

"What? What does 'uh oh' mean?" Krystal became worried again.

"Pulse is gone" he mumbled. "Vivian! You get that ambulance yet?"

A response came from the fox kneeling on the other side of Wolf, "They fucking put me on hold!"

Krystal gasped and Wolf growled, "Well get them _somehow_!" they yelled in unison.

Krystal looked to Fox and a few tears fell from her cheeks, "Will CPR work?"

"Worth a shot." Wolf sighed, ripping his shirt into strips and tying them around Fox's severed limbs.

Without any response Krystal brought her fist down onto Fox's chest, once, twice, three times, then placed her lips on his and breathed out. She was so intent on repeating the process that she hadn't noticed the large crowd of animals surrounding her. Tears flowed from her eyes as the thought that she might be loosing Fox finally reached her mind. She was repeating the process of hitting his chest then giving him air until she felt a faint pulse. "I've got a pulse!" she yelled. At that moment a cell phone landed next to them, breaking into pieces.

"Ambulance is a no-show at the moment." Vivian called.

"Crap." Wolf grunted.

"Uncle Fox gonna be okay?" asked the teen wolf sitting next to Vivian.

"Let's hope so." Krystal could only muster up a whisper, her voice shaky with chocked down tears.

Wolf looked around, "Well don't just stand there! Someone call for some fucking help already! Dammit you people are idiots!" Krystal drowned out all the other animals and was looking at Fox, "Common Fox don't die...please don't die..." she cried, a few warm tears falling on Fox's face. She continued crying until Marcus' curiosity got the best of him and he faced the group of five. "What's wrong with daddy?" he asked. Krystal's head snapped up and she quickly jumped to her feet and ran up to Marcus. She grabbed his shoulders and turned him back around, "Just keep looking this way Marcus, daddy will be okay, don't you worry...he'll be okay." she re-assured him. Billions of thoughts and emotions where ricocheting off of the walls of her brain, but immediately stopped in their tracks as an ambulance approached. Tears stained every inch of her face as she watched the paramedics lift Fox, and all of his separate limbs, onto a hover gurney and load him into the back of the ambulance.

_**-Back to that darn Hospital-**_

"What?" she was even more confused now.

"...stabbed me..." he said in a low voice.

"Why the hell would any of us hurt you, Fox?" she said, "Look around you, everyone we know was worried about you, hell even Falco was worried out of his mind." She laughed, "We needed to get an extra room to store all of the 'get-well' gifts you got. But ya know if we wanted to kill you, Fox, we would have just done so."

"How long have we been here?" He asked looking around.

"About a week," she informed him, "Listen some one called your communicator but didn't leave a message, and I don't recognize the comm number. I don't like this Fox...why would you think we were stabbing you?" she said pointing to the nightstand that held his communicator.

"I-I don't know...give me my communicator please," he said holding out his hand, which Krystal quickly put the communicator in, "where is Marcus?"

"Sleeping." replied Krystal.

Before Fox could look to his hand, the communicator went off, he hesitantly pressed the button to answer the call, "Hello...who is this?" Fox said into the small device.

The stranger responded, "That's not important right now...even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me unless you saw me. Just listen to what I have to say to you. I know what happened to you Fox...somethings going on with Katina, their government is making something, their genetically altering young animals for something... I don't know much about what there doing, but I need you, Krystal, and even Marcus to come help. Please Fox."

"How do you know us?" Fox demanded to know.

There was a sigh from the stranger, "Don't tell me you don't recognize my voice Fox? I'm your mother...Vixy."

Fox nearly dropped his communicator as he heard the word "mother", "My mom is dead..."

"Fox, you know it would take more than a little car bomb to get rid of me!" the stranger chuckled.

Fox began to shake, "I saw the body."

There was a sigh from the other end once again, "You saw A body...not MY body, it was probably charred and burnt, so it could have been anyone. That to was Andros' doing...anyway you're not safe there, meet me at our old house, bring Krystal and Marcus...good bye. Oh, and for proof I have a video tape of when you got that cookie jar stuck on your head." Their was a loud fit of hysterical laughter in the back round as the stranger cut off the call.

Fox dropped the communicator to the bed and rubbed his temples. Krystal sat down next to him, "Fox, can we trust that person? Should we go?"

Fox sighed in frustration as he turned red, "Yep it's official" Fox smiled, "Krystal, my mom is still alive, I can't risk not seeing her if it's not a trap, we have to go."

Krystal got up from the bed and walked towards the door, "I'll go get you outa' this place, just try not to get your head stuck in any cookie jars, those things are vicious."

Fox nodded and a bright red glow could be seen through Fox's fur as he tried to get out of bed, only to have an immense pain shoot through his body. As he held back a scream of pain he forced himself to walk into the bathroom, where he struggled to remove the bandages and his shirt. As he looked into the mirror at his new wound he noticed that the various stab wounds left some sort of symbol on his chest. At the moment his chest was bloody which made it hard to make out the picture, but he could faintly make it out by the stitchings. The stab wounds on both of his shoulders matched perfectly with the one on his gut, and in between the stab wounds was a perfect X across his chest.

"If they didn't do this...who did?" Fox whispered, looking to his arms and legs. He could have sworn they cut them off, but everything looked normal. Before he had any more time to inspect his wounds Krystal walked to the open door, followed by Marcus, who was hiding behind his mother's leg like a shy kit meeting his first friend.

"Marcus stop it you don't need to hide." she commanded, and Marcus let go of her, she looked to Fox, "You alright?" concern stained her voice, "if you want we could stay here a bit longer, at least until the foot of yours heals."

"I'm no pus-OW!" Fox screamed as Krystal whacked him in the back of the head, hard, "...the hell was that for?" he groaned.

"Don't curse in front of Marcus." she said as she placed her paws on her hips.

"I was gonna say pussy cat!" Fox replied

Krystal just sighed and stared at him.

"I should stop trying to lie to you..." he mumbled

She smiled.

Fox laughed, "Yeah whatever, we really should get outa this place...I hate hospitals."

Krystal laughed and mocked the vulpine, "Aw, is big bad Mr. McCloud afraid of a wittle needle?"

"Shut up," he mumbled.

Krystal picked something off the nightstand next to the hospital bed, "Hold your breath."

"What do you-HOLY SHIT!" Fox screamed as Krystal stuck a needle into Fox's arm, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"Calm down, it's only some painkillers, the doctor told me to give them to you at 2:00 PM, and right now it's 2:01 PM." Krystal laughed, "That was fun, maybe I'll ask the doctor for just some shots with out any thing in them. Oh by the way," Krystal hit Fox in the back of the head, "STOP CURSING IN FRONT OF MARCUS!"

"I hate my life." he said as Krystal helped him get his shirt back on.

"It's okay Fox, just remember that where ever you are, someone else is gonna hate your life too." Krystal patted Fox on the back.

"Gee wiz, thanks for the comforting words Mrs. McCloud." Fox rolled his eyes

"Just joking, the truth is that where ever you go you can count on some fan-girl to chase you across the universe." Krystal led Fox and Marcus out the door.

"I hate my life." Fox repeated.

"Did I mention the guys that like you?" Krystal teased as she helped Fox walk through the hospital's halls.

"What about the girls that like you? I could have sworn that the old woman back at the park was hitting on you." Fox teased back

Krystal shuttered, "I have nothing wrong with gays but that freaked me out."

Fox laughed, "Yeah same here...so, uh, when do you think we can get to my old house?"

"At the pace we're going?" Krystal replied, "I don't know, three hours?"

"We need to go faster..." Fox said

"Not if you want that foot of yours to heal we don't." said Krystal, trying to get the anxious vulpine to slow down, "You know you're taking this a lot better than I excepted you to, I had figured that you would be freaking about those new legs and that arm."

"WAIT WHAT!" he suddenly screamed, stopping in his tracks.

"You mean you just noticed?" she giggled.

Fox looked at his new limbs and started to freak out, "What the FUCK! Where did my body go! What the hell!"

"At least be happy that they did those things when you were sleeping, they really hurt like a bitch you know." Krystal said.

"What?" Fox was confused even more now, "How do you know that?"

Krystal tapped her right hand on the wall next to them, producing a muffled _clang_.

"You have one? Since when?" Fox said completely forgetting about his own.

"Since Kursed." she said, "Some bastard rat cut it off."

Fox winced at the mention of Krystal's alter-ego, "Ouch."

"So anyway, those limbs of yours?" she changed the subject.

Fox's eyes went wide, "Please tell me that I still have my p-"

"Yes." Krystal quickly responded.

Fox let out a sigh of relief, "Thank God."

Krystal opened her mouth to say something but a yell came from behind them, "Hey! You don't have clearance to leave!"

The two foxes wiped around to the source of the voice, "Krystal you said that you got me signed out."

"I tried, but they told me no."

"So you just thought it would be a good idea for us to leave?"

Krystal nodded, which caused Fox to let out a frustrated sigh, "Wait a minute...is that Fara?"

Krystal's ears perked up at the mention of Fara's name.

Fara ran up to them, "Sorry guys, Fox doesn't have clearance to leave." she said, then turned to Krystal, "Of course you can go though."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?" Krystal growled.

Fara's only response was to growl back. They continued their stare-down-contest until Fox stepped in between them and pushed them away from each other, "Can you guys stop trying to mentally kill each other for like five minutes and let me talk?"

Krystal growled for a few more seconds before turning her attention to Fox, "Yeah fine." she finally said.

"Fara?" Fox said

"Five minutes." she replied, "Then I'm ripping her fucking head off."

Fox winced at the sentence and Krystal tried desperately to get over to Fara, Fox held her back with his metal arm though, "Let go Fox! I'm gonna fucking kill that bitch!"

Fox sighed before picking Krystal up with one arm and holding her there in the air.

"Let me _DOWN_!" she yelled.

"Not until you promise not to try an kill Fara until I'm done talking." Fox smiled with victory.

"Fine! I promise!" she squealed.

Fox placed her down onto the ground and faced Fara, "Ok, so as I was saying-"

Fara cut Fox off, "You have thirty seconds before your five minutes are up."

"You're kidding right?"

"Twenty."

"Why are you counting so fast?"

"Five."

"Dammit!"

Krystal and Fara pushed Fox away to the side before tackling each other. They rolled around on the ground, clawing at each other's face, and pull each other's hair. After a good four minutes of trying to break them up, Fox finally gave up and sighed in defeat, he looked around himself and smiled at all the faces staring at the three. Krystal finally grew tired of the redundancy of the current fight, so she raised her right fist and brought it down onto Fara's face as hard as she could. A loud _crunch_ echoed though the large hallways as Fara's nose was shattered.

"Whoa, too far!" Fox yelled, grabbing Krystal by the waist and plying her off of his long-time friend.

Krystal's struggling continued, though. She twisted and kicked around in Fox's synthetic arm, trying desperately to get back to the ground and finish the job. After what seemed like an eternity she stopped her hopeless struggle and twisted once more so that she could see into Fox's eyes.

"Maybe you two could try and be friends?" Fox chuckled nervously.

His wife's stare was intense, and he could have sworn she was using her telepathy to send unwanted images of her beating the hell out of him. "Rethink that sentence."

He hesitantly began to speak again, "Maybe you two could try and be friends?"

"I don't think so," she growled.

"Please?" Fox had a warm smile on his face, "For me?"

"Not in this lifetime."

"Why?"

"Because she's never going to stop trying to steal you from me."

"She tries because she doesn't like you."

"You think?"

"The only reason she doesn't like you is because she thinks you're the kind of person who would run off the minute you find someone better. She told me that if you two were to just somehow talk it out and you got to know each other better, you could be friends and she would stop."

"Really?" she asked, her stare back to the dreamy, curious, face she always wore.

Krystal tilted he head over to the unconscious nurse on the ground, "I didn't know that."

"Just wait 'till we get my Arwing, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, okay...I just can't wait." his smile soon faded, "Krystal where's Marcus?"

Krystal's smile also faded, realizing that she had forgotten about her only son, "I thought he was following us." Krystal looked up towards the vents and saw the tip of a tail, and her bright smile returned, "Never mind he's crawling up in the vents."

Fox laughed, "And you're not at all worried about him being up there?"

"If I was afraid of this family climbing and crawling through vents I woulda tied you to a tree by now." said Krystal.

"Keep making me laugh and you're gonna be carrying me out of here." Fox winced in pain.

"Then maybe you should sit on that bench while I get the arwing." Krystal pointed at a bench as they walked out of the hospital doors

Fox sat down with Krystal's help, "The cockpit only holds two people, how will we get all three of us inside one of them? I think maybe I should just fly my own."

Krystal's smile slowly got bigger, "You like riding on the wings of them so much, so how about I tie you to one?"

A worried look washed across Fox's face, "Shit, I'd laugh but knowing you...you're serious."

Krystal laughed, "Hellz yeah."

Fox hung his head, "Dammit...could we just have Marcus sit on my lap or something?"

Marcus walked out of the doors, "Dad look what I found in the vents!" he held up an old guitar, his face beaming with happiness.

Fox took it from the outstretched paws of his son and laughed happily, "I thought he lost this thing on one of his missions."

Krystal looked at him questionably, "He?"

Fox looked up to her from the new guitar, "My father, he used to always be here with some sort of injury. I guess he misplaced his guitar while he was escaping through the vents." Fox chuckled, "The old man always did hate hospitals, guess he rubbed off on me."

"Well, I'd love to hear you play it, but I think I'm gonna go find some rope..." Krystal smiled.

"Why? It'll be cramped, but we could all fit!" protested Fox.

"Not if you want to keep the guitar." Krystal said, walking away from the vulpine.

Fox sighed as he watched her walk back to the parking lot, where she must have moved the Arwings. He began looking over the guitar as Marcus climbed onto the bench and looked to where Krystal was now stopped, "Is that Uncle Wolf?" he asked.

Fox looked up from the guitar and a slight smirk came across the vulpine's muzzle, "Sure is, I didn't expect him to be here though."

Wolf waved at Krystal as he walked towards Fox and Marcus, as he approached Marcus jumped down from the bench and and ran up to Wolf, where he was picked up and hugged, "So Fox, you still gonna rip my head off or is it safe to for me to let my guard down?" Wolf asked walking up to the bench.

"Didn't expect you to come," Fox replied, "my sister get you to actually care about stuff yet?"

Wolf sat down next to the vulpine, "You could say that."

Fox smiled, "So where's the wife and kids?"

Wolf chuckled, "Their coming, Vivian told me to go first, she's still a little worried that you'd might still be mad."

Fox sighed, "Sorry man, I really had no right to be angry at you guys, it's just not every day that I figure out my mom and dad had a kid and never told me. But common dude she's two years younger than me and your like three years older than me!"

"So? That's only a five year difference." Wolf smirked and looked from Fox to three figures walking towards them, hesitantly. "There they are."

"Cover Marcus' ears and eyes with this, then follow my lead." Fox whispered handing Wolf a towel he taken from the hospital.

"You plan on this or something?" Wolf whispered as he did what he was told.

"Yeah but I expected this to happen later, at Marcus' party later tonight." Fox whispered back. "The knife is fake, remember that, when you get it stab me."

"Aw you don't have a real one I could stab you with?" Wolf chuckled

"I've been stabbed enough today O' Donnell." Fox smiled.

"Whatever, but don't you think pretending to be killed at your kid's party is pretty fucked up?"

Fox thought for a moment before responding, "Yes" he stated simply, "But I'm a fucked up kinda guy."

"I'm going to pretend that what you said didn't sound gay."

"It only sounds gay 'cause you want it to, my furry-assed friend."

After Wolf finished putting the towel on Marcus, Fox fake punched him in the gut. Wolf played along and faked being hurt, before he fake punched Fox in the face. A volley of punches and kicks were exchanged between the two, but Fox's injuries prevented him from doing anything to impressive, Vivian rushed up to them to try and break up the fake fight, Fox pulled a very-real looking knife from his boot and stabbed it at Wolf, who caught the vulpine's wrist and faked disarming him. Wolf stabbed Fox in the chest, causing the blade to retract into itself, and fake blood to ooze out of it, making it look like Fox had actually been stabbed. The vulpine fell forwards into Wolf as he let his body go limp.

"WOLF WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" Yelled Vivian, who was running up to them.

"It was him or me Vivian, sorry but I'd rather live." Wolf replied, gently placing Fox onto the ground.

A tear fell from the vixen's face as she dropped to her knees next to Fox. When she placed her hand on his muzzle, Fox's eyes shot open, "SURPRISE!" Fox screamed.

"FOX WHAT THE FUCK!" Vivian's scream was drowned out by Fox and Wolf's laughter. "I am going to kill you Fox, I really am."

"Sorry sis, I have A LOT of years to make up for. Tell you what, I'll cut you a break and make this prank worth a whole years worth. That only leaves twenty or so more!" Fox laughed, "If it helps it hurts like hell to move, talk, and laugh."

"Does it hurt when I do this?" Vivian said punching the stab wound on Fox's shoulder as hard as she could, which was pretty freaking hard.

Tears flooded Fox's eyes, "Yes!" he choked out.

"Good." she smiled. "So..uh nice metal arm..er..legs...um...thingies."

"Thank you, when I punch someone, and by someone I could possible mean you, I expect that it will feel like I was hitting them with a wrench."

"You would hit a girl?" Vivian fake-gasped, "That's really fucking low, even if I was talking to Falco."

Fox waved his hand, "Nah, Falco is a jackass, but he wouldn't hit a woman, even ask Katt." Fox laughed, "She's beaten his ass up more times then I could count, and he never laid a finger on her...well not in response for her beating him up..."

Vivian gasped for real this time, "So you're saying Katt has beaten Falco up more than _five _times?"

Fox rolled his eyes, "You're sense of humor is getting so old."

She shrugged, "It's what I do to entertain myself."

"I thought that was Wolf." Fox winked, jabbing his elbow into the lubine's ribs several times.

"Completely out of character." Wolf stated plainly.

"You think my jokes are getting old?" scoffed Vivian.

Wolf started to laugh, holding his laughter in these days was hard, and it was getting harder by the day, and Fox held his shoulder and sat up with much difficulty.

"Help me up." Fox commanded, sticking out his hand to Wolf.

Marcus and Wolf's two children sat on the bench and watched the whole thing unfold.

"Hey, Tyler, think we'll be like them when we grow up?" Marcus asked.

The teen lupine laughed, "Probably. Right Nicole?"

"No doubt about it!" she replied, laughing along.

At sixteen years old, Tyler stood 6 feet tall and looked almost exactly like wolf: same eyes, same looks, spare his fur color which was more of a dark brown, and his '_I'm better than you_' attitude was obvious by the way he walked; his chest always puffed out with his shoulders back and his head held high, each step full of confidence. Nothing brought that kid's spirits down, always happy-go-lucky and ready to crack a joke on a moments notice, even if it was the completely wrong time. Happiness that is obviously not from Wolf. Nicole had her father's fur and the McCloud family's famous green eyes, looks mixed with that of her father's and mother's. Popular among the guys and envied among the girls, her father's screw you attitude and her mother's tom-boyish traits. Truly a force to be reckoned with at only thirteen years.

Marcus nodded before turning back to the show.

"You know it mildly concerns me that Tyler and Nicole are so much older than Marcus. What with me being two years older than you and all." Fox said to Vivian when he reached his feet.

"It's not like I'm seventeen." Vivian scoffed.

"Your oldest is sixteen."

"And?"

"You are thirty-three."

"Your point?"

"That means Wolf knocked you up when you were seventeen."

Wolf's eyes suddenly shot open wide, "You told me you were _nineteen_!"

Fox turned to his sister, "You are _so _dead when mom finds out."

Vivian tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, "Mom's dead," she stated bluntly.

"No she's not, I got got a call from her not twenty minutes ago."

"And you thought that would be a good thing to keep secret."

Fox dropped his ears and covered his head, "Not the face."

Vivian drew her blaster, and raised it to Fox's temple, "Last words?"

His head shot out of his hands and his eyes met that of his sisters, a look of pure hatred, "Fuck you lieutenant, your compromising the whole mi-"

she cut him off, pulling the trigger, "Oops, my finger slipped," she said as blood splattered from the scorching hole in the side of her brother's head.

Wolf put his wrist up to his muzzle and began to call for Krystal, "Krys? You there Krys?"

"Yeah, you do it?" a voice came back.

"Deed's done."

"Great," Krystal replied, "I'll be there in a minute."

She wasn't kidding either, in exactly a minute she was running up to them from somewhere behind the hospital, "Wolf! Get that thing into the arwing out back, I'm going to go explain things to the kids." she yelled as she was nearing them.

"Alright, Vivian grab the legs."

"Lead the way."

_**-Through the eyes of the Young-**_

"Tyler?"

"Yeah Marcus?"

"What's your mom doing to my dad?"

Tyler looked up from his phone and his jaw hit the ground, "N—Nothing, Marcus, here's my phone play around with it and I'll be right back." He burst into a run as soon as his young cousin had the phone, tears burning at his cheeks and belief racing his heart and destroying his body. He couldn't reach them in time though, and he fell to his knees as his mother pulled the trigger, dear old Uncle Fox falling to the ground in a bloody mess, and the laser that had scrambled Fox's brain, whizzed past Tyler's head and scorched part of his left ear. His heart stopped cold and his breath was knocked from his lungs in realization as to what his mother had just done. That soon passed though, he couldn't remember what exactly happened next, all he knew was that he grabbed Nicole and Marcus then ran until it felt like his lungs were on fire and he had blisters on his feat. Then he ran more, dragging a crying Marcus and a pissed off Nicole along with him.

_**-Back to Krystal-**_

Krystal desperately looked around for any sign of the kids, anything, a piece of fur, a stomped on piece of grass, anything. And that's exactly what she found, on the ground not ten feet away from where Fox was shot, lay a scorched bit of an ear, with water marks around it. She made the best guess that she could and ran off to the east, towards the O'donnell residence. Yes, Tyler must have seen what had happened, that was it. He must of grabbed Nicole and Marcus and made a run for home. At least that's where she thought they went. That's where she would have went. _I hope they're okay_, she thought, _ all I have to do is explain to them what's going on. _In a time like this all she could do was hope.

_Where are you Fox?_

000000000000000000000000

**Author's Note:**

_**So sorry about the long wait, I've been really busy with school and stuff. **_

_**Note To Whom It May Concern:**_

_**I'm going to give a shout-out to Hopeless-Tyronos along with Foxpilot for being my first reviewers, oh and I'm giving you both the option to send me one of your OCs to use in this story, you get to decide if you want them to be good, evil, a minor character, a major character, a minor villain, a major (main) villain, and vice-versa with heroes. All your choice though. If you'd rather not that's fine. **_

_**Edit: As of March 17, 2011: Anonymous reviewer "Graystripe" gets an optional OC. If you would create an account and pm me that would be great.**_

_**Anyway, I've added another cliff-hanger because I'm a jerk, and that's what I do. Long chapter though, I tried to introduce some of the main characters in the story before I moved the plot to far forward, still more to come though. Get ready to be annoyed by annoying twists in the plot. Yeah that's right, annoying twists are annoying. I'm hoping that I will be able to write faster, but I have a crud-load of school work everyday.**_

_**R&R**_

"_**I am the truth."**_

_**-Ben540-**_

_**Yeah, Foxpilot, I know my signature sucks but it's just a placeholder. (Same thing with my pen name.)**_

_**Everybody have a good one and review or I'll be sad **_**:(**

**Edit:**

**(The next reviewer gets an OC of their choice, same as Foxpilot, Hopless-Tyronos, and Graystripe)**

**Edit:**

**LOOK AT THAT I'M BRIBING YOU GUYS**

_**DID I MENTION THAT I WANT REVEIWS?**_

_**Edit:**_

_**I hope that acually includes everything I typed up this time.**_


	3. Chapter 2: La Vulpe

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STARFOX OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS! I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONGS!**_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_**"Edit: (May 2, 2011: This chapter has been partially revised and edited. Not to many drastic changes: 5023 (five-thousand-twenty-three) miles to 64 (sixty four)"**_

**Congrats Graystripe — (just not to cause confusion) on sending me your OC.**

**Indeed another cliffhanger. This one will explain a few things so that you guys don't get frustrated, and we finally meet the real Fox McCloud in this chapter! Hurray! With that out the way, it makes me sad that I have 85 people reading this story but only 3 reviews from the readers. (2 of the reviews of from me explaining the problems I had with the first chapter being cut).**

**Also, I named this chapter "La Vulpe" because 'La Vulpe' translates to 'the fox' in Italian. With that said, here we go. **

**Who are You? - The Who**

**Who are you?  
Who, who, who, who?  
Who are you?  
Who, who, who, who?  
Who are you?  
Who, who, who, who?  
Who are you?  
Who, who, who, who?**

...

**chorus:  
Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)  
I really wanna know! (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)  
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)  
'Cause I really wanna know! (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)**

* * *

**-Chapter 2: La Vulpe**

"Who are you?" a figure said from the shadows.

"It's me, Krystal," a voice replied.

"You guys killed Uncle Fox."

"That wasn't Fox, now let me in and I'll explain everything!"

There was an eerie silence before a shaky sigh came from the inside of the dark, three story, house. Pretty modest for someone like Wolf, but a typical family home at that. It looked normal enough for a middle class home, that is if you looked past all the expensive looking décor. The inside was not at all modest though, it made you jealous, which is probably what the O'Donnells were shooting for. She couldn't blame them though, a family's crown and jewels are the house and yard. She smiled to herself as a memory of Fox and Wolf fighting over whose house was best popped into her mind. That image quickly dispersed, though, as the door swung open and Krystal was pulled inside.

"Explain," ordered Tyler, pinning Krystal up on the wall by her shoulders.

She waisted no time, and cleared her throat, "Well, as you probably saw, your mother killed Fox. But that's not the case, the Fox you saw was a fake, a clone if you will, who was assigned to accompany your mother on an undercover op to find where Vixy McCloud is hiding. Your mother was already working an undercover op, though, which was for Vixy. She assigned me, your mom, your dad, and your dad's old partner, Leon, to discover where Fox has disappeared to."

"What?" Tyler's grip loosened.

"Fox is missing, and it's our job to find him."

"Why didn't you just tell me this in the first place?"

"We have Intel that there may be another double."

"Who?"

Krystal upholstered her blaster before pushing Tyler off of her and aiming into a dark corner, where two sets of eyes could be seen. The eyes of Nicole O'Donnell, and Marcus McCloud. Without hesitation she pulled the trigger and closed her eyes, "My son."

Nicole screamed and covered her face as Marcus fell out of the shadows and into a patch of light on the ground, with a smoldering hole in his skull, twitching a few times before lying still. As Krystal stood with her head away from the body a pistol was put against her head, not a blaster, but an old-world pistol. Those things were much more slow and inaccurate, but more powerful nonetheless, and energy shields didn't stop bullets like they did lasers, so Krystal's would not do her any good. "How am I to know that you aren't the double?" Tyler growled, his trigger finger twitching.

"If I was I would have killed all three of you," she replied, opening her eyes.

That's when she saw it; a quick, bright, flash on the top of a hill a few hundred yards away. It was probably Sol, the sun, reflecting off of a car's windshield but she didn't dare take the chance. Grabbing onto Tyler and Nicole she dropped to the ground and rolled to the edge of a window as a bullet ripped into the building, throwing glass and dust into there faces. "Sniper!" She shouted.

**-Sol on the Horizon-**

"Pull the trigger, or I pull mine," a voice hissed.

"I'm not pulling the trigger," the sniper replied, knocking his rifle over and causing the sun to produce a flash that he hoped would signal the blue vixen and company.

"Say no again and I kill La Vulpe," growled the voice.

"You wouldn't," the sniper challenged.

"Wouldn't I?" the voice said, aiming the suppressed pistol at the tied up fox behind them and pulling the trigger. There was a terrible, muffled, scream as the bullet tore into the animal's shoulder and blood stained the already red roses around him. "Pull the trigger or the next one goes into his head."

His heart pounded against his chest, his stomach churning about how fast it was. Krystal barely had a chance to drop before he took aim and pulled the trigger, the bullet leaving the barrel in a brilliant burst of fire and smoke. He could have sworn he could feel the bullet slicing through the air, outrunning the sound wave and embedding itself into a wall next to Krystal. "There, I did it, now let him go!"

"Not until I have a confirmed kill," he said, grabbing his hostage and putting the gun to his back, "Go."

The unnamed assassin sprang from his spot and packed up his rifle, handing it to the animal before walking down the hill. "I only got one, the others got to cover before I could shoot them, so we'll have to go around the back."

"Right, lead the way."

The three sprinted down the hill and cut across a few yards until they were behind the O'Donnell residence. Pushing the chestnut furred fox down into the grass he commanded the young sniper to check the house. He knew he hadn't gotten any of them, and he also knew they would shoot him on sight, for two of them had guns.

**-Back to Our Heroes-**

_"Fox?"_ Krystal thought to herself. "Tyler! Fox is here, he's right outside!"

"Well then what are we waiting for? Lets go get him!" the wolf cheered.

"No! There are at least two others, both are armed. And one of them feels a bit funny," Krystal said, scratching the back of her neck, it was Fox's habit but it eventually rubbed off on her, "No...No no no no that can't be. How is that even possible?"

"What?" Tyler asked.

Krystal seemed not to here him and continued her conversation with herself, "I haven't felt that since back home! I don't believe it! But no! It's not possible, I'm the only one left! Well, that and Marcus but still! I don't believe it!"

"Mind sharing?" Tyler let out a frustrated sigh, and once again Krystal didn't respond, "Well I see we're not getting anywhere with this. Nicole? We should set up an ambush for whoever is coming."

No answer.

"Nicole?"

Silence.

"Aunt Krystal! Where's Nicole?"

Finally snapping out of her mini-conversation Krystal looked around the room, setting her eyes on a splatter of blood on a nearby couch, "I think I might know," she said, her fur color draining.

"What? Whats so-" Tyler was cut off when he saw Nicole laying in a corner, tears in her eyes and blood across her arm, "Shit!" he shouted, running up to her.

With pure fear swimming in her emerald eyes she looked at her brother, "It's only a scrape, it just grazed me is all." she whispered.

Tyler nodded, "Yeah not too bad," ripping a strip from the bottom of his shirt, he tied it around her arm then rushed her over to where Krystal was, "It's not to bad, it just grazed her arm, she should be fine."

Krystal let out a breath and embraced both of them in a tight hug, "Go out the front door and work your way to the back yard, I need to speak with whoever is in here."

Nodding they both jumped up and ran out the door.

Krystal slowly got up and cleared her throat before walking out next to the front door and shouting, "I know you're a telepath! I also know that you don't want to harm us, so just come out and talk to me!"

A shining knife slowly exited the shadows, followed by a strangely colored arm. It might have been dyed, but probably wasn't, for Krystal could not smell any chemicals._ 'Green, what a strange color.'_ Krystal thought, '_My blue fur is no different I guess._' The creature slowly moved out of the shadows, twirling his knife around in his hand, ready to strike the vixen down in the blink of an eye. Of course he wasn't though, the green vulpine was hesitant with his steps, and his hand shook with uncertainty, '_A hesitant assassin? Nice._'

"I'm not gonna hurt you, so just put away the knife."

The killer gave no answer, instead he slowly approached her until half of his body was uncovered. "I don't believe you," said the green vulpine, looking into the eyes of his would-be-prey.

"You have green eyes to?" Krystal whispered to herself.

"Did I hurt anyone?" the question was sudden, and completely random at that.

"Yes, you hurt my niece. Grazed her arm with the bullet."

The pupil of his eye widened and he dropped the knife, "I—I'm sorry I didn't...I mean...is she okay?"

"Yeah...yeah she's fine. Just a bit shaken up." Krystal replied, edging closer to the creature, but he noticed and quickly grabbed his knife from the ground.

"No! Don't get any closer or I'll cut you."

Krystal put up her hands and backed a away, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, just tell me if Fox is okay."

"Who's Fox?"

"The vulpine you're here with?"

"No, I'm here with my boss."

"And?"

"I've said to much, just leave and I'll tell my boss you're dead."

Krystal tried to probe his mind for information but the vulpine started to scream, "Get out of my head! Get out!" she quickly exited his mind and he collapsed to the ground on his knees.

'_No one has ever reacted like that before_' "Where you from?"

Breathing heavily he looked into her eyes, this time his whole face was visible, he had a green eye and a purple one, "Cerenia."

It was Krystal's turn for her eyes to go wide, "Cerenia?"

The Vulpine nodded, his breathing steadying.

"What's your name?"

"Sol, Sol Cerin,"

"Cerin as in Cerenian royals?"

"How do you know?"

"My names Cerin," she whispered, "Krystal Cerin."

A smile slowly formed at the corners of his muzzle and his eyes had a sparkle in them.

"I thought you died," tears began to form in her eyes as she ran up and embraced the green vulpine, "I thought I'd never see you again."

"I thought so too."

Still in the embrace she kissed him on the forehead, standing a good foot taller than him, "How did you survive?" she asked, sniffling.

"Dad threw me into space," he chuckled.

Krystal smiled, "I miss that old nut. But you know, no oxygen in space so; again, how did you survive?"

Sol smiled and squeezed Krystal harder, "I stowed away on our attacker's ship just before I passed out. They managed to find me though, and the next few years are kind of a blur, they did a bunch of tests on me and here I am trying to kill you."

"I never knew you were a telepath."

"That was one of there tests."

"I also distinctly remember that you had blue fur."

"Tests."

"A test to turn you green?"

"A test to turn me yellow. Guess they missed preschool and didn't know that blue and yellow make green."

"And the eyes? Why is one green and one purple?"

"Tried to turn my eye red but red and blue make purple, tried to turn my other one green and succeeded."

Krystal finally let go of her brother and took another look at him, "I like it, it makes you look cute."

The young vulpine blushed and looked away from his sister before asking another question, "So I think I missed a few of your birthdays, how old are you now? Twenty-four?"

Krystal laughed before giving her answer, "On Cerenia I would be, but we are ten years behind the Lylat System for some reason. Something to do with the speed of our planet's rotation. So I'm thirty-four."

Sol nodded, "So does that mean since I am fifteen there I'm twenty-five here?"

Krystal nodded in response.

"Hell yeah I'm an adult!" Sol whooped.

Before Krystal could laugh a gunshot rang out from behind the house, the sound wave bouncing off of all the surfaces around them, and fading off into the distance. "That would be Tyler."

"Who?"

"My nephew."

"So who is your niece?"

"Nicole."

"I shot her?"

"Yup."  
"She gonna be mad?"

"Yup."

"That aughta put a damper on our relationship," Sol sighed, scooping up his knife and running to the back door, pressing his back up against the door frame and peeking out, only to have another gunshot sound off and a bullet to go into the door. "Hey!"

**-Moments Before-**

"Is that the guy who shot me?" Nicole asked, peering at the dog standing with his foot pressed against a vulpine's back.

"Could be," Tyler replied, tossing the pistol over to her from his spot behind the tree next to her, "It's a .50 cal Desert Eagle so be careful, the recoil is humongous."

Nodding, Nicole knelt down and aimed at the dog's back, steadying her breath and hands before slowly depressing the trigger.

_BANG_ the hand cannon fired, sending the vixen's arms flying upward, almost letting go of the gun. The dog fell in a heap onto the vulpine lying in the grass and the chestnut furred fox quickly squirmed out from under him, grabbing the his combat knife in the process. In a matter of seconds the fox had his hands free, and proceeded to rip the gag from his muzzle. Before he could get to his feet another shot was fired, this time at the door way of the house, a loud "Hey!" coming from inside.

**-Back the Royalty-**

"Tyler? Nicole? It's okay let us come out!" called the blue vixen.

"Us?" Nicole shouted.

"Me and my brother!" Krystal responded.

'_Brother?_' the mystery vulpine thought, hiding behind a curve on the house.

"Brother?" called Tyler.

"Yeah, _brother_ the counterpart to _sister_." Sol shouted, exiting the home.

"Oh wow he's a bit oddly colored." Tyler whispered to his sister.

"I think he's kinda cute." Nicole responded.

"That's your uncle."

Nicole shrugged, "He's still cute."

Tyler rolled his eyes and looked back to the two Cerenians, but something behind the green one caught his eye, "Behind you!"

Too late, the mystery vulpine had slipped behind Sol and wrapped his arm around his neck, placing the knife on the exposed spot of fur, "Everyone drop your weapons or I kill this guy!"

Krystal took aim at the hooded fox but Tyler threw his gun out of where he was hiding and put his hands up, followed by Nicole who did the same. The fox put the knife closer to his hostage's neck, "Put. It. Down."

After a long moment Krystal threw her gun to the ground at the feet of the two foxes and raised her hands.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet La Vulpe," Sol declared.

"You're way to cool about this," said Krystal.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm his friend I don't think that he'd hurt me."

"Don't be so ready to trust people kid."

"Crap, now I'm worried."

The hooded vulpine loosened his grip on Sol as to let him breath a bit easier, "I'm going to let him go on one condition."

"Name it."

"I need medical attention without any questions asked."

"What happened?" Nicole shouted, now slowly moving next to Krystal.

"He got shot," Sol shouted back.

"Where?" Tyler asked, following Nicole.

"Shoulder and it hurts like hell, so cut the chatter. Yes or no?" La Vulpe intervened.

"I'll help you but I have a condition of my own."

"I have your brother at the blade of my knife, so you really shouldn't be negotiating."

"I want to see your face."

"No."

"You think like Fox McCloud but you sure don't act like him."

La Vulpe shifted a bit on his feet before making his decision. He pushed Sol into Krystal and burst out into a hasty sprint away from the house, clearing the four foot high fence in one leap. He sure did jump high.

"What now?" Nicole asked, her arms falling to her sides.

"We go to where Vixy is hiding," Krystal replied, "we better move fast though, the authorities aught to be here soon."

The three nodded and followed Krystal as she climbed over the fence and followed the vulpine's path of blood.

**-Some New Heroes-**

"Let's watch it again! I can't get enough of this!" a blue feathered avian yelled from his spot on the couch.

"I don't think Vixy or Fox would approve," a pink feline said, grabbing the remote from the bird.

"I don't give a shit, if Fox asks why we are watching the video I'll just stick a cookie jar on his head, now give me the remote."

The feline stood up and stuffed the remote into her pants before running into the kitchen behind them. "No!"

"Do you know me at all? Stuffing the remote into your pants is just a bonus for me!" the avian shouted, following the feline though the door and chasing her around.

"You'll never catch me!" the feline challenged as she slipped past the bird.

"You wanna bet?"

The two ran out of the kitchen and back into the living room where the old flat-screen television was located, then back into the kitchen and out into the dinning room, where the avian cornered the cat and pinned her up against the wall. Both completely unaware of the third presence in the room. The bird plunged his hand into the cat's pants and grabbed the remote.

"You're a jackass Falco."

"Oh my dear Katt, being a jackass is my specialty."

"Is raping you wife also a specialty?" a new voice asked from behind Falco, which caused both to jump with fright and Falco's hand to go into a very private part, and that caused both Katt and Falco to blush madly.

"Uh...Fox! Buddy! There you are! We've been looking all over for you," Falco nervously laughed, pulling the remote and his hand from Katt's pants, then turned around.

Katt came out from behind Falco and instantly saw his wound, "You've been shot!"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here. I managed to escape but I did meet up with Krystal, Tyler, Nicole and Krystal's supposed brother, Sol."

"Oh! Are they okay?" Katt asked curiously, pushing Falco out of the way to tend to Fox's wound, "Here sit down."

As Katt fished out the first aid kit Fox continued, "I don't know I didn't tell them much because I thought they might have been clones, I didn't see Marcus so I assumed he was here."

"Yeah, he's here. Falco found him when he went to the store for some beer."

"That's a relief, can I see him?"

"After I get that bullet out of you."

"No, it's fine, I just want to see my son then I'm leaving."

"You're not going anywhere McCloud," intervened Falco, "you're going to wait here until the rest get here then we all go together on the Great Fox."

"No Falco I'm going on my own," Fox growled.

"You are staying here even if I have to nail you a bed post and tie up your feet," Katt said, purposely knocking her tweezers into his bullet wound once the bullet itself was out.

Fox yelped but kept still, "That wasn't very nice."

"How about you stay here, or I will kill you," Katt replied, putting a cloth onto the vulpine's shoulder.

"Fuck you, Katt."

"Common, Fox, she's just trying to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"Fuck you too Falco."

After Katt finished wrapping the gauze around Fox's shoulder she punched his wound and walked away, "You're staying here."

A new voice chimed in this time, "How ya doing pup?"

Fox let out an aggravated sigh before getting to his feet and facing the new voice, "Wolf."

"You've had us worried, you know that?"

"I know, but it's for the better."

"Better for who?" this time it was another new voice, this time it was Krystal, "Better for us or better for you?"

"Better for you guys."

"Better?" Krystal scoffed, "I had to fucking kill my own son and you say that is 'better'?"

"It was a clone."

"They acted real," Krystal was shouting now, "Honestly, I don't know how you could be so selfish! Nicole was almost shot, Tyler watched his own mother kill you, I killed Marcus, Wolf's been having to take care of everyone, Vixy is about to die from worrying, Vivian just wants her big brother, and Marcus just wants his dad! Falco and Katt don't even need to be here but they are because they care about you!"

"You don't understand-"

"_I _don't understand? I don't understand? Do you know the hell you put us all through? Do you even realize what's happening?" Krystal started to cry, "You don't understand, Fox McCloud, you're the one who doesn't understand!" She burst into a run and started to swing her fists at the vulpine, and even after she knocked him to the ground she didn't stop punching him, repeatedly shouting, "I hate you!"

It took Wolf, Falco, and Tyler to get the furious vixen off of him, and by that time they were wondering if they should have just let Krystal beat him to death. Everyone in the room knew she was right, everyone besides Fox.

Fox was standing in the doorway of the room they had brought Krystal in, and once she settled down he edged closer.

"Just leave her alone, man, you've done enough," Falco said on his way out, shaking his head in disgust at his best friend.

When Wolf passed by he didn't say anything, he just stared at the fox for a few minutes before walking away.

Then it was Tyler's turn, and what he did seemed to cut into him the most, "You know she's right, Uncle Fox, we've all had our fair share of worrying, but she's the one who was worried the most. Hell, when Marcus was finally strong enough to talk after Falco found him walking along the streets, he said he was trying to find you. You hear that? My little eight year old cousin walked sixty four miles away from his captors. He went off in some random direction, by himself, while being dehydrated, hungry, and tired because he wanted to see his dad. Don't be so selfish Uncle Fox, just stay, we can do this together. Then everyone's happy."

That was when Tyler first realized that Fox's eyes were bloodshot and puffy, "You don't understand, Tyler, if I stay here then we all die. And I can't watch my family die."

"So you're gonna run away so that you don't have to watch? Face it, we're either going to die trying to find you, or we're going to have a fighting chance with you."

Fox was silent for a moment, thinking, mulling over his next move, "I'm leaving Tyler, it's for the best."

"Picture this, Uncle Fox. When Marcus wakes up and everyone's sad and depressed he's going to ask why, and then someone is going to have to tell him that dear old dad left. When he hears that he's going to be devastated, probably try and find you again. Wonder off into the middle of the night in some random direction until we find him again or he dies."

"I guess you're just going to have to lie then."

Tyler started at his uncle in disbelief as he walked away, but then the unthinkable happened. Tyler grabbed the nearest blunt object and hurled it at Fox's head as hard as he could.

Both went down in a sickening thud. It all happened too fast, like time decided to speed up. No fantastic music or slow motion like in the movies. Nothing was heroic about the death either. A man that had done so much for the Lylat System and a man that had survived so much, dead because he got hit by a random object lying around the house. No one was ready for it. It was all just so unfair, so unjust, so...unexpected.

"Tyler! What the hell did you just do?" yelled Vivian, rushing over to her brother and inspecting his head. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dangled in the air when she searched for his pulse, "Wolf?"

"What?"

"I think he's dead."

Everyone looked to Tyler then back to the lump on the ground, one, twice, three times in a slack-jawed expression. No one believed it, no one wanted to believe it, they all just kept switching their stares between the two, not knowing what to do.

Tyler looked at his paws, his body shaking and his mind racing, "He's not dead, I didn't throw it hard enough. No! He can't be dead it's not possible!"

Krystal barged past him looking at the still warm vulpine on the ground, then to her nephew, then back to Fox. A smile on her face, "Karma's a bitch!" Krystal laughed, lightly punching Tyler in the arm, "Good throw Tyler!" Everyone stared at her in disbelief, their eyes wide and their jaws kissing the floor, "What? It's true."

"Fox is _dead_, Krys, _dead,_" Katt started.

"No he's not," Krystal replied going back into her room and grabbing something from under the bed, "He's right here."

There, in all his glory, was Fox McCloud and the first sentence that escaped his mouth was even more startling, "Can I really be that much of an asshole?"

Everyone nodded, there faces the same, "Wow, I gotta work on that," he chuckled, looking around the room, "What?"

"Well this is all playing out a bit...fast," Katt sighed holding her head.

Falco cleared his throat, "How long have you been under that bed?"

"I don't know, since two days ago."

"Creepy."

"Uncomfortable is more like it."

"I imagine."

"Hey!" Vivian yelled, "Sorry to interrupt but I'm confused, is this another Fox clone?" she asked, pointing to the fox on the ground.

"You can't possibly believe that I would be careless enough to let Tyler kill me?"

"You couldn't be bothered to share your plan with the rest of us."

"Well sorry, and by the way, you're not off the hook for a year of pranks like the clone told you."

"How do you know about that?"

"I was in the vents."

"And the thing with Marcus?"

"Not true, he was next to me the whole time."

"How did you get that past us?"

"Well I can't lie, it took a lot of hard work, planning, and determination; but, you know, mostly badass skills."

"Of course."

"So, uh, where's mom?" Fox asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Buying some beer," Katt said, "Falco drank it all."

Fox nodded, "I know what I'm doing tonight."

"Sorry to cause any trouble, but do you have any water?" it was the first time Sol had spoken during the whole time they were there, probably because he was trying to patch up his relationship with Nicole.

"What? Water? You don't drink or something?" Falco laughed.

Sol shook his head, "Nope."

"Well how old are you?" Fox asked.

"I'm fif—er—twenty-five."

"Then now is a good time to start!" Wolf shouted, patting the green vulpine on the back.

"I'd rather not."

"I remember Fox's first beer," Falco chuckled, "funniest night ever."

"Oh I imagine fucktard," retorted Fox, "at least I didn't confuse my girlfriend with a fire hydrant."

"They all look the same when I'm wasted."

Before the conversation continued Vixy came through the door, two six-packs of beer in her hands, "I see we're all here, good, now we can come up with our next move to find Fox."

"Um, I'm right here mom." Fox waved, walking up to her.

Vixy stared into Fox's eyes, searching for something within his soul, "F KFM 100"

"Say what?"

"He's all good."

"What just happened?"

"The clones are all programmed to respond to a series of numbers and letter regarding the animal they are cloned from. In this case the code is the first letter of the animals first name. So if I wanted to see if you were a clone I'd simply walk up to you and say 'F' for fox then 'K' for Krystal, 'F' again, then 'M' for Marcus."

"Why the KFM?"

"I honestly don't know, but they decided to include the letters for a harder to guess code. Still pretty easy if you ask me. Better than the ones Slippy makes, 'cause then I'd be standing here for hours saying seemingly random letters and numbers."

"Where is Slippy anyway? I figured he'd be here."

"Slippy's already on the Great Fox."

"What do you mean already?"

"I mean, we are going, right now. Grab your stuff and lets go."

"Stuff? I've been held captive in some dirty basement somewhere in the city for the past _year_ and you expect me to have stuff?"

Vixy shrugged, "You seem to be taking it well."

"That's just the lack of sleep, food, and water talking."

"Fine, we'll all go to the Great Fox, head up to Sauria to get your gear, then we're heading to Macbeth. One of my...associates...gathered some Intel I'd like you all to hear."

Sighing, Fox reluctantly agreed, "Someone get me a burger, I'm starving," he said, walking out into the night. Falco followed quickly behind, catching up to his friend in an instant, and the two started to chat about the basketball games that Fox had missed.

"How can he be so cool about all this? I don't even know what's going on." Nicole asked from her spot next to Sol.

Krystal walked over to the table and sat at the opposite side as Nicole, gently twisting her arm around to inspect the bandaging, "That's just how he deals with things. Keeping his cool is the only way the people he worked with didn't run at the first sign of trouble. Besides that, I don't think he knows what's going on either, he just wants a burger." Everyone in the room cracked small smiles,Vixy and Wolf both grabbed a pack of beer and walked out, then one-by-one the animals started to trail out the door, trying to catch up to Fox and Falco.

Sol was the last one out of the run down house, looking around at all the urban surroundings. This place was hardly a stronghold, no defenses set up and the house looked like it would sooner disintegrate than fend off a small-time thief. But he guessed that was why they picked it. No one would have expected it at least for a few years.

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"So, Fox, you never shared with any of us why and how you were captured," Vixy said, tossing the vulpine a drink.

Catching it, Fox began to tell his tale, "To be one-hundred percent honest, I don't know. Some random guys just jumped me while I was walking back to the Great Fox from my annual food shopping trip. At first I figured I was just getting mugged, but since I was outnumbered ten to one and they all had guns trained on me, there really wasn't anything I could do. So, I did what they told me to and they had the decency to not beat me half to death every hour," taking a sip of his drink he continued, "Once I was in their 'headquarters' they started asking some questions that I didn't know the answers to, like stuff that only Slippy would know."

"Stuff only Slippy would know?" Sol asked, "Who's Slippy?"

"You don't know who Slippy Toad is?" Fox asked, genuinely surprised.

"No?"

"Oh, well he's—like—the smartest guy in the Lylat System, and the genius behind many of the things we use. Like the new Arwings and compact blasters."

"So he only makes stuff to fight with?"

"Naw, he makes other stuff like, uh...heh...I—uh, I'll get back to you on that one," Fox said, scratching the white spot of fur on his head.

"I see, please continue."

"Right, well, after I convinced them that I had zero knowledge on the subject, they started asking questions regarding the people I know. They asked about how I acted, how Krystal acted, Marcus, Wolf, Vivian, my mom, Tyler, Nicole, Slippy, Falco, Katt, Fara; you get the point. It was all pretty strange but I answered regardless because it's not like they could do anything with 'Slippy is a clumsy genius' or 'I don't know much about my mom'. They treated me pretty well if you would compare the situation with any other number of my previous captures."

"You get captured a lot?" Sol continued his questioning.

"Not anymore, I'm retired now, but in the past? Definitely. For some reason I always had to play hero and do the whole 'No! Take me instead!' deal."

"Did you do that with people you didn't know?"

"Well, yeah, if I saw a young soldier I'd tell myself that they didn't deserve to die. They had their whole lives ahead of them. So I'd intervene, cause enough trouble as to make them come after me instead, like shoving a grenade into a supply truck's trunk then madly shooting at it and running away. Worked pretty well to get their attention, but I remember one time I couldn't get far away enough in time and the explosion launched me into an enemy solider."

"Oh yeah! I remember that too, but that was me not an enemy soldier," Katt said.

"Then why did you shoot me in the ass?" Fox yelled.

"I was mad," shrugged Katt, "Continue."

"I couldn't sit right for a month," he growled, and after a spine-chilling stare directed at Katt, he continued, "So, after all the questioning was good and done, I was released with a bag full of credits to pay for my abandoned groceries. It was all so strange that I wasn't really paying attention when I started walking and got jumped, _again_, but this time by Krystal. When I woke up I was here and she started rambling on about 'clones' and stuff like that. And, well, then we started planning, she gave me some food and water, and let me sleep for a day. After that we put it all into action and the plan was for me and Marcus to stay completely hidden and trail you guys. Did I ask for a burger yet?"

"Yup," Wolf replied.

"We need ten A-S-A-P."

Wolf placed the pack of beer into Falco's hands then trailed off from the group, "Be at the Great Fox in twenty."

Fox nodded and kept walking, before he was tackled to the ground from behind. For no apparent reason. "The hell?"

"Sniper!" Nicole yelled, pointing to a roof top as Katt got off of Fox and helped him behind a tree.

"How did they know we were here?" Falco shouted from behind another tree.

"Nicole! Smash what ever tech you have!" Yelled Fox, who was now scanning the area for any other threat, "Where's Sol?"

Everyone began to look around, but the question soon answered itself with a loud '_**crunch**_' was heard by the building across from them, where the sniper sat. The animals all looked at the mangled body on the ground to the vulpine standing on the roof, "Sol?"

"I knew him," Sol called from the building.

"Who was he?"

"Geoff Tanner. Project X"

"Geoff?" Vivian gasped, "Shit! Everyone run!"

"Why?" Falco, along with everyone else, didn't know what was happening. It was too late for the question as Geoff jumped from the ground, and twisted all his bones, resulting in numerous pops. "Oh crap," Falco said, grabbing Katt's hand and following Vivian.

"Common guys it's just a kid!" Fox tried to persuade them to come back, but once he was done shouting he realized that everyone else had also run, "You're all a bunch of cowards!" Fox laughed to himself and turned around to face the animal that was now, literally, two inches from his muzzle, "All right kid, I'll go easy on you."

The black furred vulpine grinned before throwing a punch, which Fox failed to block or to dodge, and it sent him twisting through the air for a few feet, landing with an agonizing thud in the street.

"That's how you wanna play it huh?" he smiled, staggering to his feet and shaking himself awake, "Come get some, asshole."

Geoff flew from his spot, and launched himself into Fox, sending both into a building. Blood flew from Fox's muzzle and a few cracks came from his chest as his body was forced into the stone, making an imprint in the surface. After coughing a few more times he opened his eyes, his vision blurry, and in front of him Geoff was brushing dust from his shirt. Upon noticing that Fox was still alive, he grabbed onto the war hero's shirt and pulled him from his spot in the stone, kneeing him in the stomach and throwing him to the ground. Fox twisted and turned on the street, trying to catch his breath when the black furred vulpine lifted his foot for the final blow. But, right as his foot was about to hit his nose, a shot rang out and the project's body twisted to the left as a bullet tore into his shoulder.

When the his body fell to the ground, Marcus could be seen standing behind it, an old world pistol in his tiny paws, and his nose bleeding. Probably from the gun smacking into his face. Fox asked no questions and started to get to his feet. When Fox finally struggled to his feet, Marcus' victim rose along with him, grabbing Fox by the neck and hurling him at the kit. Then the assassin pulled a .22 pistol from his belt and unloading a full clip into Fox's chest. A satisfied grin growing across his muzzle as he looked at the two broken McClouds lying in the street. The smile didn't last long, though, because another bullet had hit him in the head and sent him slamming into the pavement once again. This time it was Sol, who had probably just gotten down from the building, that held the smoking gun.

"You okay?" he asked, Fox didn't reply, and Sol checked his pulse, nodding in satisfaction, "A bit weak, but there," he smiled before turning to the small blue kit behind him, "Get back to the ship Marcus."

Marcus only nodded, holding his nose with one paw, and his side with the other while he ran away.

"Alright, Fox, let's get you to Krystal," Sol said, picking Fox up and making a run for the Great Fox. Geoff had risen once again, though, but he didn't chase them down. He only stared at them as they turned to dots in the horizon. Then he rolled his neck and casually walked the opposite direction, his hands in his pockets and his wounds magically healed, fur and all.

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"Slippy? Where's Marcus?" Krystal ran into the Great Fox's medical room, completely out of breath.

"In you and Fox's room, sleeping."

"Not anymore!" Krystal shouted, "Watching him was your responsibility!"

"Settle down Krys!" the toad squealed, finally finishing dressing Nicole's arm, "Did you check every room?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't be outa breath now would I?" Krystal growled, grabbing Slippy by the shoulders, "Did he leave the ship?"

"Well of course, where else could he be?"

"Dammit toad! Find my kit!" Krystal shouted, shaking Slippy furiously, sending him onto his backside as she ran from the room and off the ship.

Fixing his lab coat, Slippy hopped up and briskly walked out of the room. Leaving Nicole by herself.

"Awkward," she sang, sliding off the table and rubbing her arm as she walked up to the door. Sensing that something was in front of it, the door started to fold into itself but jammed about half way, causing Nicole to angrily kick it. In response, the door sputtered and twitched a few times before eventual beginning to fold into itself again until the exit was completely open, allowing the wolf-fox hybrid to stroll out, "This hunk-a-junk fended off an army?"

"Three," An old voice came from behind her, causing her to jump a bit, "I scare ya?"

Nicole twisted on her heels to confront the new face, "No, nothing scares me."

The old animal rubbed her on the head, causing her to step away from him, "I bet."

"Who are you anyway?" Nicole asked, fixing the fur on her head.

"Me? I'm the General of the Cornerian Army," the animal stated, "I'm sure you don't believe me though."

"You're General Pepper? What are you doing here?"

"Nope General Pepper is retired, my name is Peppy Hare," the old rabbit started to stroll down the hall, "And I'm her to talk with your uncle and aunt, do you know where they are?"

Nicole shook her head and followed the old hare, "My Aunt Krystal just ran out to find my cousin Marcus and no one has seen Uncle Fox since the assassin."

"Assassin?"

"Yeah, an assassin tried to kill Uncle Fox but his bullet missed, I think Uncle Fox stayed behind to fight him."

"I see. We must get him back as soon as possible," Peppy stopped when he reached the door to the Great Fox's kitchen, "Where is your father?"

"He went to get some food."

"Your mother?"

"First door on the left."

"Fox's room?"

"Yes."

Peppy nodded before they said their good byes and parted ways, Peppy walking back down the hall while Nicole went into the kitchen for a snack. Once he finally got in front of the door it suddenly snapped open, reveling Vivian McCloud, "Peppy? What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Fox, but you need to hear this too."

Vivian stepped to the side, away from the door and gestured for Peppy to enter, "Take a seat."

Peppy grunted as he plopped onto the bed, his old bones popping a few times, "I suggest you close the door."

Vivian obeyed and pressed a button on the wall, making the door slide from the ceiling and slam into the ground. Locked securely, "Go ahead Pepster."

"You might want to sit down."

"Just spit it out, I need to make sure that Nicole's okay."

"Fox is in intensive care, the assassin unloaded about fifteen shots into his chest at close range. He only used a .22 though, it's a damn peashooter, but Fox is still only barely alive. Kystal's in charge until he has healed and is fit for duty. You're second in command right now, so you're going to have to make sure you keep Krystal going, alright? This is very important."

"What about Wolf?"

"He already has to much to deal with."

"Falco?"

"Slippy doesn't want the ship to blow up."

"So then why doesn't Slippy captain the ship?"

"He has too many repairs to preform so that we aren't left drifting through space."

"Katt?"

"She makes sure Falco doesn't destroy anything important, so her hands are pretty much full."

Vivian stifled a laugh at Katt's odd job, "He can't be that bad, can he?"

"At times, yes. But Falco's a good soldier, and a better friend. We all give him a hard time for being reckless, but he's responsible when the time requires it. I think he is the reason why Fox is still alive today, really. He thanks me, but I didn't do much for the guy, all I ever did for Fox was but a roof over his head and food in his stomach. Falco's family taught him how to fly, and they even tutored him in things he didn't understand so that he was able to graduate from Flight Academy. I was just too busy when he was young, I just could never have done those things."

"Interesting, so what about my mom?"

"She doesn't want to."

"Oh, that's unlike her."

"Indeed it is, but she said so herself."

"I guess I'm stuck then."

"Yes you are."

"Cool."

"You sure are taking this well, Vivian."

"Fox is to headstrong to die, he'll be fine."

Peppy let a smile creep onto this face and a tired laugh to come from his mouth, "So true."

After their conversation was finished Peppy got up from his seat on the foot of the bed and walked to the door, pressing a button to open it, "I'll be in constant contact with all of your com links, if you need me."

Vivian nodded and followed him out the door, hugging him before walking down the hall to the medical treatment room. When she got to the room she saw Krystal tending to Marcus, who's nose was bleeding, with a mystery patient behind a opaque curtain next to them, "What happened?"

Krystal sighed before answering, "He found my gun! Can you believe that? He broke his own nose when he shot it!"

"I believe it, so who's the mystery patient?"

"Some fox, or whatever, that Sol found on the streets. That kid's gonna get himself robbed one day, I swear to you, he is way to caring."

Vivian nodded, walking over to Marcus and wiping a bit a blood from his shirt, "We're gonna have to clean his shirt after this."

"Yeah, could you finish up with him? I need to replace the painkillers in the hobo's IV."

Vivian nodded, a knot in her stomach, she knew who that was and she knew that Krystal wouldn't take it well, but she couldn't get herself to speak. She silently tended to the eight year old, waiting for the deafening scream or the thud from her fall. Nothing came. When she looked to Krystal she was just replacing the bag on the IV, just like she said. Vivian scratched the back of her neck before walking over to Krystal, "Marcus is all good."

"Thanks."

"No problem. But, uh, doesn't this guy remind you of anyone?"

"Nope. Well, yes, he does look remarkably like Fox, only his fur is a different color. It's a shame, really, that such a handsome vulpine was sitting on his ass and waiting to die. He looks like a freaking movie star."

Vivian tilted her head to the side and walked to the side of the bed to get a good look at the vulpine in the bed. '_They dyed his fur black!' _she thought to herself, '_Brilliant!_'. It was definitely Fox McCloud, but his fur had been dyed a dark black, the white spots of fur receiving the same fate. He had bandages tightly wrapped around his chest, fresh bandages that still had their sterile smell to them, "Those smart S-O-B's."

"What?"

"N—nothing, go rest, I'll take care of him."

"I only need to turn one dial, Vivian, it's not that hard."

"Then turn the dial and go rest, you've been through a lot these past few days."

Krystal nodded, turning the dial on the machine that released the drugs into the patient's body, "Can't argue with that, I'll be in me and Fox's room if you need me."

"Alright," said Vivian. Krystal was almost out the door before she went running up to the blue vixen, blocking her path, "almost forgot." She sighed, placing her hands on the vixen's shoulders, "Do. Not. Use. Fox's. Pillow. Or you guys' blanket. You know what just sleep somewhere else for the night."

"What'd you do?"

"I put chili pepper residue on his pillow, itching powder on the blanket, and cockroaches in the sheets."

"Oh, god."

"Yeah, heh, sor—shit! Peppy sat on the bed!"

"Should we tell him?"

"No, never, he might make me sleep in it."

"True, very true. But should we at least clean it up? I mean it seems a bit harsh."

"Are you kidding me? I aint touching those things."

"I saw Katt put itching powder onto Fox's bed once, actually."

"What'd he do?"

"He sabotaged everything she owned with the same powder, and he also put massive amounts of worms in her food for about a month."

"I'm gonna go clean up...everything...see you in the morning."

"Bye Vivian."

_Too easy_. Krystal smiled to herself as she watched Vivian scurry into the bedroom with a pair of rubber gloves protecting her fur. Once Vivian was concealed behind a wall Krystal headed out to the kitchen, looking for her husband and brother. The empty halls made her smile and she closed her eyes, remembering the events that took place in the ship. Very few bad memories. But even the bad memories made her smile, because they all seemed so small and meaningless. She almost ran into the kitchen door with all the thoughts flooding her brain, but stopped just in time and the door was able to finish opening. The only animals in the kitchen were Wolf, Nicole, Tyler, and Sol each sitting at the same table and talking like old friends. Sol always did make friends quickly. Wolf must have gotten back from his trip to get the hamburgers, and Sol obviously had been the one who had gotten Marcus home, because he followed him in. Once they noticed her, though, they all fell silent and stared at her,.

"God damn this is high school all over again," Krystal sighed, walking to the refrigerator.

"How you holding up?" Wolf asked.

"What do you mean 'how you holding up'?"

"You saw Fox didn't you?"

"No that's why I'm here, I'm looking for him."

"Looking for him? Sol brou—OW! The hell?" Sol had kicked Wolf in the shin under the table and shot him a 'don't say it' glance, "Oh! She doesn't know?" Sol shook his head at Wolf.

"Know what?"

Sol sighed, getting up from his spot and walking over to Krystal, placing his green paws onto her shoulders, "I had Slippy dye Fox's fur black so that you wouldn't recognize him. Don't worry though, Krystal, he's fine. He's just gonna be really sore for the next month."

Krystal's eyes grew wide and she instantly ran out of the room, back down to where Fox McCloud lay. Tears stained the floor here and there, and her breathing was heavy. She didn't wait for the door to open and decided to just dive through the opening that was there, a sharp edge tearing her shirt and making a long cut in her right side. The cut started at her shoulder and ran all the way to her waist, jagged and messy. A nasty, deep, cut that would leave a horrible scar. She didn't mind though, all she wanted to do was make sure he was okay. To sit next to her husband until he awoke. She locked the door once she was in the room, blocking the other animals from the couple. The blue vixen didn't even realize how much blood she was loosing. Continued loss like that would render her unconscious. Which it did.

On the other side of the door Wolf and Sol were smashing the door with chairs from the kitchen, trying to get into the room. They had no luck, though, the chairs bounced from the doors like a piece of paper, and didn't even leave a scratch. The rest of the animals on the ship soon joined the group of five out in the hall, now the party was all there: Slippy, Falco, Katt, Vixy, Vivian, Wolf, Sol, Tyler, Nicole, and Marcus. With Krystal and Fox on the other side, both completely motionless. They were about to give up when they heard a deafening scream from the other side. The painkillers had worn off and Fox was in pain. A lot of pain. The screams carried the vulpine's pain through the air, allowing it to echo off the walls and into the other's ears. That was when Slippy started to try and manually release the lock through a control panel on the other side, mumbling to himself when something didn't work and smiling once he did something that worked. All the animals rushed into the giant room, Vivian and Vixy rushing over to Fox so that they could settle him down. Fox eventually screamed himself back into unconsciousness, but the rest that were tending to Krystal didn't have any luck. Krystal's carelessness had caused her to loose an enormous amount of blood, and her pulse was gone.

**Completely gone.**

* * *

**Author's Note: **

_**"Edit: (May 2, 2011): It has been brought to my attention that Marcus was set to have walked 5023 miles back to Star Fox. That is truly ridiculous. The "five-thousand-twenty-three miles" was supposed to be nothing more than a placeholder for me to revise. Sorry, I messed up and put out the chapter before I fixed it. But this is now the fixed chapter in terms of that. "sixty four miles" Is the new distance. Still outstanding, but much more likely than 5023. (A fun fact: It would take about 70 days of a continuous pace of 3 mph to walk 5023 miles.)"**_

**Another cliffhanger?**

**That's all for this chapter, more sudden death. How will everyone deal with Krystal's supposed death? Will they get by without both Fox and Krystal? Will I never not ask you a question? The answer to the last one is 'Yes'**

**Anyway, this chapter took up sixteen pages but has a lot of dialog. There will be less dialog or more big paragraphs in the next chapter. I'm just trying to figure out what the best writing technique is for me. So far I'm leaning towards an even balance of paragraphs and dialog. But whatever. Stay tuned for the next chapter where you find out if Krystal made it or died. Because Heroes die without any fireworks or heroic slow-mo in the real world. **

**Straying away from that sad fact, Fara fans will be happy because she makes an appearance eventually. Sol is Graystripe's OC (congrats). Brace yourself for the next chapter. It's coming within this year (lol). I'm not gonna give you readers a specific time so that I don't stretch myself too thin. But an estimate for the next Chapter is about one month.**

**Will your favorites survive?**

**R&R**

**Hope you enjoyed. **

**Have a good one.**

"**I am the truth"**

**-Ben540-**


	4. Death of a Hero, Birth of a Problem

_**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STARFOX OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS! I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONGS AND OR QUOTES! I ONLY OWN MY OC'S: GEOFF TANNER, NICOLE O'DONNELL, TYLER O'DONNELL, VIVIAN McCLOUD, (future OC's will be in here once introduced). THEY ARE ALL MY OC's EXCEPT FOR SOL. HE BELONGS TO GRAYSTRIPE (his OC).**_

**Author's Note:**

**A list of the OC's that have been sent to me:**

**Graystripe: Sol**

**Hopeless-Tyronos: (Character Has Not Been Sent)**

**Foxpilot: (Character Has Not Been Sent)**

**-I'm keeping my promise to give the next reviewer an OC if they want one, if not then I go to the next reviewer and so on so forth-**

**Who will it be? I wonder.**

**I love cliffhangers, don't you? On a side note: (This might sound awkward, lol) I'm no longer going to beg for reviews. But I do appreciate them. Reviews allow me to keep track of my readers, and ultimately keep them reading. If I put out a crappy chapter, or a good chapter, I would like you readers to let me know. Typos too, because I'm not that big with thoroughly proofreading my work. Actually, I don't proofread my work... I should start to though... I just leave it the way I type it in the first place most of the time, ha ha. With that out of the way, on to the other important stuff. This chapter contains more paragraphs and less dialog, so yeah. Also, I have chosen a quote instead of a song for this chapter. That is all.**

_**Enjoy**_

"In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate" – Issac Asimov

**Chapter 3: Death of a Hero, Birth of a Problem**

Everyone stood in silence, rocking back and forth on their feet, and upchucking their stomach's contents into corners of the room, a bad smell engulfing the area. They were all nauseous, all confused, all sad. Their heads spinning with the split-second pace of Krystal's death. It was completely unfair. Krystal, like Fox, had gone through so much and survived. She was a ruthless bounty hunter for years, a member of Star Fox during two wars, and she also survived Dinosaur Planet. But she died because of her own carelessness. Her death was even in vain, nothing good became of it. Everything was going down in flames. Checkmate, game over, everything was done. No one made a sound, a lump in each and everyone of their throats. Tears streaming freely from their faces. It didn't make any sense. Was this what she wanted? To just die and run off in her dead dreams? Tyler didn't point out a good side to Krystal's death, because there was no good side. Falco didn't make a joke, because there were none to be made. Marcus didn't cry, Sol didn't collapse to his knees, Wolf didn't get angry, Fox lay in his unconscious state; his body curling into a ball and whimpering sounds emitting from his non-moving mouth, as if he could feel his wife's death. Vixy didn't comfort anyone like a mother would, because she had no comfort to give, they all just stood there. Dead weight. They lost both of their leaders in a matter of hours. "Why?" Falco was the first to speak, his voice quivering.

No answer came, because no one had one. Vixy tried to clear her throat but burst into tears, with the others following in suit. It was a scene straight from a bad tragedy movie. The leaders gone, the others hopeless, all unwilling to continue. But in life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.

"I should have kept my mouth shut," Sol said in between sobs.

"No, if I didn't ask about Fox you wouldn't have had to tell her. This is on me," Wolf said, his shoulders drooping for the first time in his life.

"I didn't have to tell her!" Sol was shouting now, his anger engulfing him, "I could have lied!"

"I should have gotten the door open faster," this time it was Slippy who spoke.

"I could have told her while we were in here together, that way she wouldn't have cut herself on the door," Vivian's voice was almost a whisper.

No one else accused themselves, and they slowly started to plod out the door, a cloud of depression looming over the metal cage. That is until a cold paw grabbed onto Wolf when he passed Krystal's dead body. "I'm...not...dead...yet," a soft, weak, voice came from Krystal, her body motionless. Wolf's head snapped to the body watching as she slowly faded, ready to die once again. "She's alive!" he shouted, gathering a spark of happiness and joy from his depressed teammates and sending them flooding into the room. They worked like machines, gathering rubbing alcohol, bandages, water, an I.V. complete with all the needed medicine in the bags hanging from it. Krystal was on a bed and bandaged in an instant. Her wound stitched and cleaned, the color slowly, but surly, returning to her body. And the familiar warmth was once again accompanying her paw-in-paw. Life was finally back on track for the large team. A new hope had washed across them with Krystal's lucky survival.

—**Krystal's Point of View— **

She knew that her cut meant inevitable death if not treated, but she didn't have the strength, nor the will, to dress it. She couldn't even open the door. Concerned voices came from the other side, reminding her of what she was leaving behind. A real family. Not a 'I just put up with you 'cause you're family' type family, but the 'I genuinely love spending time with you' kind of family. The one that everyone strives for. A beautiful young kit was part of that family, along with a long-lost brother whom she had thought died with her planet, and a loving husband. At least she could hold Fox's paw while she died. Death had become a common word with her after Fox outcast her from the Star Fox team. But she could never go through with suicide. Something always happened to prevent it. Maybe this was just God's way of telling her that she wasn't invincible. That she was just another animal. The saddest part to all of this was the fact that her many bad deeds out-weighed her good ones. Heaven was not an option for her at this point. Hell would be waiting for sure. It's flames would grab her by the waist and hoist her into the darkness, burning her fur and skin. Torturing her. She could feel herself fading, her body edging closer to the ground by the second. Until there was nothing. There wasn't a bright light like many had said, no angles or devils to greet her. Her life didn't flash in her eyes like many think, she just...died.

It was just like waking up any other day. Only the surroundings were different. A giant forest stretching for miles in all directions, a forest like those on Cerenia. Krystal looked to her body, were a long gash could be seen. She placed her furry paw on it but felt no pain, only the crude flesh. The other thing that stood out was her old Cerenian outfit. The golden trimmed bra and loin cloth that left nothing to the imagination. Then there was him. The vulpine that ruined her life, but also the one that provided the best moments of it. Fox McCloud lay there next to her, his right paw behind his head, resting on the soft ground of the forest. The other paw held hers. His body dressed in the flight suit he had worn on Sauria.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" the fox said, turning his head to look her in the eyes, a warm smile on his face.

"What?" Krystal was confused, she thought she was dead.

"The sky," he replied.

"Oh, uh, yes?"

"You have a nice sleep?"

"I was sleeping?"

"Yeah, you must have been tired to sleep all this time."

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"About a day. I don't blame you, though, you've been through a lot."

"Where are we?"

"A coconut hit you on the head of something? We're on Sauria, just killed Andros, remember?"

Was she really dreaming all this time? It's just not possible to have so many years of her life all part of a dream. When she looked back to the vulpine next to her a new animal sat behind him, an older version of Fox McCloud. The one she had seen before she died. His fur was completely black, his torn jeans and t-shirt bloody, bullet holes in his chest. The old Fox slowly faded into a mist, flying away with the cool breeze of the forest.

"I know what you're thinking, the answer is yes. You are dead," the new vulpine answered the un-asked question and left her speechless, "Welcome to hell, Krystal, guess we both went to the same place."

"You're not dead, are you?"

"I am at the moment, actually. I'm supposed to give you a long speech on how it's not your time. On how _they _are going to give you another chance to live. That you shouldn't be so careless next time. One small problem, though, I only have another two minutes. If I don't get you to come back by then, then we both die."

"Why wouldn't I want to have a second chance?"

"It's not that easy. You have to wake yourself up, you need a strong will to live."

"What do you mean?"

"Anyone ever tell you that I don't know how to die?"

"Yes."

"That's exactly it. My body doesn't know the meaning of death, it juts never gives up because no one ever taught it how. I just don't have the luxury of being able to quit. Mr. Death had to pay me a 'special' visit for me to be able to be here. With you, though, you're body knows how to give up, it knows when to quit. It knows it's limits. So, with you it will be extra hard. You get me?"

"Yeah, yeah I understand."

"Good," Fox nodded and stood up, checking his watch, "Time's up," he said as his body slowly faded with his life returning to his body. Back into reality. "I love you, Krystal."

"I love you too," she whispered. The vixen didn't know what to do, so she just started to try and wake herself up, like waking herself up from a dream. She willed her body to wake up with more effort than she had put forth with anything, and she also slapped herself in the face. And luckily, it worked. Somehow, it worked. Her body started to tingle and become foggy. Her vision slowly blurred and she felt like she was flying through space without an Arwing. It made her a bit nauseous but she kept her strong will, her mist-like figure speeding up until it slammed to a stop into her body. It was an odd sensation, she felt like she had spent a night in a blizzard without any clothing or blankets. Her body was numb, tingling. Her brain threatening to burst out of her skull, her heart on sudden overdrive. Air quickly filled her lungs and blood coursed through her veins, returning feeling into her limbs, slowly. She snapped her eyes open, and she grabbed desperately at the wolf in front of her. "I'm...not...dead...yet..."

**—Back to Reality—**

The crew quickly cleaned the vomit from the room and sprayed air freshener so that it smelled acceptable in the room. Krystal slept calmly in a bed close to Fox, a smile pasted on their faces, and their paws somehow intertwined, even in their unconscious states. Vixy slept soundly at the sides of her son and daughter-in-law. Vivian sat at the edge of Fox and Krystal's now clean bed, clutching her brother's pillow. Who's smell had stuck even after it was washed. Slippy cleaned Krystal's fur and flesh off of the door, adding a gadget to the lock that let him open it with a press of a button he installed on his wrist communicator. He was thoughtful enough to do that with every door, and every communicator. Katt sat in the kitchen with her knees to her chest, staring out a thick window, into the emptiness of space. Falco sat next to her, rubbing her back. Nicole and Tyler stared at Marcus, but mostly the blue kit's dead stare. Wolf was standing by the door, speaking to an unknown animal.

"I...don't think Krystal would want you here," the lupine said to the new face.

"Fox was not cleared for release."

"Tell you what, we'll let you stay on the Great Fox to monitor him, but you can't bother Krystal and you also have to do your share of work."

"Or, I could take Fox back to the hospital and we can all move on."

Wolf flashed a smile, hovering his paw over the button to close the door, "Nice to see you, Fara."

Before he pressed the button, Fara shoved him out of the way, walking into the ship and down the hall, "Fine, we'll do it your way."

Wolf chuckled to himself, pressing the button next to the door and following her to the medical bay. While he walked, he put his communicator up to his muzzle, "Time to go." There was no answer but the ship instantly roared to life and started to lift off the ground, starting its journey out of the atmosphere and into space. When he reached the medical room Fara was chatting with Krystal, as if they were old friends.

"Hey! Wolf come here," Krystal waved to the lupine at the door.

"What do ya need Krys?" Wolf asked, already by her bed.

"Could you get someone to bring Marcus? He hasn't talked for awhile and I want to make sure he's okay."

Wolf nodded, pressing a button on his communicator, "Hey, Katt, bring Marcus over to the clinic, okay?"

A voice came back from the other end after a moment of silence, "Yeah, I'm on my way," her voice sounded tired. After a few minutes Katt was at the door with Marcus at her side, the feline looked exhausted.

"Thanks, Katt," Krystal said, watching as the feline walked back to the kitchen.

"If you need me I'll be getting wasted," she called back. The adults in the room cracked small smiles and watched Katt stumble back down the hallway, she had clearly already been drinking.

"Marcus, come here," said Krystal.

The kit walked slowly towards his mother, a dead stare still on his face, not making a sound.

"What's up with you these past couple of days? You haven't spoken since you and daddy got back."

There was still no answer from the kit.

"Could someone call Slippy? I think Marcus is sick."

Wolf smiled, once again pressing a button on his wrist, "Slip? Get over to the clinic...I don't care! Get up here now!" Wolf lowered his arm, again.

"What was he doing?" Fara asked.

"Fixing the hyperdrive. We don't need it right now, though," replied Wolf.

The four were silent until Slippy got to the room, tinkering with something in his paw as he walked in, "What do you need?"

"Marcus isn't talking," Krystal replied.

Slippy nodded, placing the object he was working on in his pocket and walked over to the kit, turning him around. They met at eye level, "He has that thousand yard stare that Fox had," Slippy muttered, waving his paw in front of the kits face, "He might just be tired."

Krystal scoffed, "He look tired to you?"

Slippy sighed, pulling a flashlight from his belt, "No," the flashlight snapped on, and Slippy proceeded to flash it in Marcus's eyes. It was routine enough until Slippy gasped, "Krystal? I need you to not freak out, okay?"

The injured fox's eyes went wide and she stared at the toad, quivering but keeping calm, "What is it?"

Slippy let out a long breath and turned off the flashlight, "Marcus has a...bomb...in his head. Just like Fox back in college."

The animals all looked at the toad in disbelief, a bomb? "That's not possible, is it?" Fara asked, inspecting the kit's head for scars.  
"What the hell kind of college did you and Fox go to?" Wolf asked.

"Macbeth Aviation Center," Slippy stated.

"And he had a bomb in his skull how?" Wolf continued.

"His teacher really hated him," Slippy said, exaggerating the 'really'.

"Dammit Slippy, who put the fucking bomb in his head?" Wolf shouted.

"The one and only Professor Andrew Oikanny," Slippy replied

Wolf nodded, "Sounds like something the monkey would do."

"Indeed," Slippy laughed, "But, back to Marcus. It's very possible, Fara, for a bomb to be placed behind an eye. Whoever put it there made sure it would be next to impossible for a good surgeon to remove. It seems to be attached to the back of his eye, but I can't be sure. I also can't do an X-ray because it might trigger the bomb to go off. Our best hope is to slice his head open and try to deactivate it while it's still in there."

"Then what?" Krystal asked.

"Then we remove it. No problem."

"Just like that?"

Slippy smiled, "Just like that. Piece of cake."

"You said it would be impossible for a good surgeon to remove it."

"I said it would be _next to _impossible for a good surgeon to remove it. I'm the best of the best, Krys, I assure you that he'll be fine."

Krystal held her fingers on her head, massaging her temples, "Do it."

Slippy nodded and ran over to the sink to sterilize, he then grabbed gloves and a needle full of a drug to put Marcus into an unconscious state until the operation was done, "We need to do it here, there is no other place."

Krystal shuddered and covered her ears and closed her eyes, hiding under her blanket. Once Krystal was hidden, Slippy strapped Marcus into an operation chair, a glass bowl closing over both them, Wolf, and Fara. Each moved with extreme precision, Fara applied the shot, Wolf carefully cut a part of Marcus's skull with an automated bone saw, and Slippy vacuumed up the blood that was in the kit's head. A makeshift surgery with a makeshift crew. Slippy carefully inspected the bomb, a complex looking thing. Wires were nowhere to be seen, only a box the size of a pea. Although, upon further inspection, the short green toad found a small latch that opened the box to the parts of the bomb. There were many wires crammed inside the small box, complete with a bomb in the center. It didn't look like it would do much damage, but it was so close to his brain that it would surely kill him. Would it be just any old surgeon doing the operation, the young kit would not have stood a chance, but Slippy Toad had ten years in the Cornarian S.W.A.T.'s bomb squad under his belt along with being a successful surgeon for most of his life. Defusing this bomb was different from the others he had before, though, each wire looked like it would set the bomb off if they were touched. '_What if I'm looking for the wrong thing?_' Slippy thought to himself. Instead of focusing on the wires he looked to the bomb. He was right, the wires all led to a point that would erupt the bomb, but there was a small button on one of the faker looking wires. '_Always the red one, huh?_' he chuckled and grabbed a pair of tweezers, poking the wire in just the right spot. The bomb's light quickly faded, indicating that it was safe to remove. It didn't seem to be attached to anything so Slippy just grabbed it with his tweezers and yanked it out, causing the bomb to fall apart the moment it was out of the kit's body. Slippy placed the broken bomb to the side and started to reconstruct Marcus's skull, wrapping it tightly in bandages after his skull was back into place.

"That was to simple," Wolf said, washing his paws.

"He'll be feeling like shit for the next few months," Slippy replied.

Fara nodded and inspected the device, "This doesn't look like the ones that Fox used to defuse."

"Let me see," Slippy said, lightly nudging the nurse to the side, and staring intensely at the device, "It's got some extra stuff."

"Extra 'stuff'?"

"Yeah," Slippy grabbed his now clean tweezers and gabbed a piece of the bomb and holding it up, "Brain nullification device. Probably in there to make sure Marcus wouldn't be able to do much. It's also probably why he was able to break his nose and not cry about it."

"How does an eight year old play into all of this? I don't get it," Wolf was staring at Marcus, "There are so many of us, and they chose Marcus?"

"He's the most vulnerable. I also found this microphone on the outside of the box containing the explosive."

"Why a bomb?" Fara questioned.

The toad shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe to dispose of Marcus after they had all of the information, lets tell Krystal that the surgery was successful."

"If there is a microphone, then why didn't they detonate the bomb before you deactivated it?" Wolf continued.

"I don't know and I don't care, Wolf, just be thankful he's okay."

"I am," Wolf picked up Marcus and placed him into the last bed in the room, then moved the bed until it was touching Krystal's, "Krys? You can come out now."

A lump in the blankets started to move and soon Krystal was out from underneath them, her eyes puffy. She'd been crying, "Is he okay?" she asked, placing her paw on Marcus's forehead.

"He's fine. Don't worry about it," Fara said.

"It's my job to be worried," Krystal growled.

Fara put her hands up defensively, "Hey, Krystal, I'm not trying to be rude or anything! I just don't want you to be worried! You just need to focus on getting better so that you can captain the ship."

Krystal sighed, hanging her head, "I'm sorry."

The end of their conversation came as soon as it began, no one felt like talking. Most of all, though, no one knew what to say. It was an awkward moment, Krystal rubbed Marcus's arm, and the three surgeons just stood around the two, shifting uncomfortably on their feet and rubbing their necks. Maybe it was the fact that everything was going so well that bothered them all. Fox was in a medicine induced coma for the time being, Krystal was disabled in bed until she could heal, and Marcus survived on-the-spot head surgery to remove a bomb from behind his eye. Even with the McClouds unable to preform, spare Vivian and Vixy, they were all stable and healthy. With everything going well, it's hard to believe that another good thing was going to happen.

"Everyone strap in or hold onto something, were making an emergency landing," Falco's voice came through the ship's intercom. There it was, the moment that would ruin it all. The one bad thing that would end the good.

"I had a bad feeling about this since we left the ground," Slippy mumbled, grabbing tightly onto Krystal's bed, which was strapped to the floor.

The three other, conscious, animals in the room nodded, grabbing onto something as well. Krystal grabbed onto Fox and Marcus, Wolf grabbed onto the sink, and Fara grabbed onto Vixy, who was still sleeping, with one hand and Fox's bed with the other. Fox stirred when the ship began to rattle and heat from the sudden entrance to an unknown atmosphere, surprising everyone. You're not supposed to move when you're in a coma. The second thing he did was more surprising, though. Fox's eyes snapped open and he sprang up in a cold sweat, the high dosage of painkillers doing the trick of dulling his pain. Words shot from his mouth, coming close to destroying the eardrums of his companions.

"Hide the children!" He shouted, his body falling back into his bed, his chest moving up and down rapidly, "They're breaking down the wall! Kyla! Send them into space we can't hold them off much longer!" Fox continued to shout, his eyes wide open and bloodshot, "Give James the staff and tell him to kill the Krazoa!"

Krystal stared at the rambling vulpine, whispering to herself, "Krystal will die."

"Krystal will be fine if she's off the planet! Now do what I say!"

"James will die."

"We'll all die anyway!"

Wolf, Fara, and Slippy stared at the two in utter confusion, "Krystal? What's going on?" Fara asked.

"He's replaying my memories word for word," she said, her eyes glued to Fox.

"How?"

Krystal shook her head, "I don't know."

"Try a voice trigger."

"Dad? What is this flower called."

Fox's voice calmed, his chest moving slowly up and down, "That's called a rose, Kryssy, real rare here."

"We will never kneel to you! Give me that!"

"Hey! Well thanks for nothing. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be standing here at all!"

"This is awesome," Fara said.

Krystal nodded, "Lets try something Tricky said... Yeah, yeah! I'll take care of things here so you two can come back on your honeymoon!"

Fox's chest once again rose and fell faster than normal, his face becoming red, "What! What're you nuts? We aren't... We're not yet! Uh..."

"Not yet?"

"Uh... I mean...I mean... This isn't a conversation for children!"

"You said you weren't gonna treat me like a kid anymore!"

"Then stop acting like one!"

"You're just mad 'cause you don't want to talk about it!"

"All right, that's enough, boys!" Fox spoke with an accent for that line was Krystal's.

Now it was Wolf's turn, "That's smooth McCloud," he laughed.

"I learned from the best O'Donnell," Fox laughed too, his chest rising normally.

A huge smile crept onto Wolf's muzzle, "What are you gonna do with Krystal?"

"I love her, Wolf, I think I'm going to ask her to marry me tomorrow night. I'm gonna take her to the best restaurant I know and then we'll take a trip to Sauria and I'll propose to her where she was trapped in the crystal."

"Aw, I was hoping for something he said when he was drunk," Wolf's smile faded.

Krystal smiled, "Nice."

"Let's try something else," Wolf said.

"Alright...um...I don't know what to say. Slippy? Can you think of something?" said Krystal.

Slippy smiled, "Sure can."

"What are you waiting for? Say something," Wolf said.

"No one say another word," Vixy had finally awoken, her elderly sleep at an end, "You're killing him."

"Killing him?" Krystal asked.

"Shh! I'll explain later, just get him back asleep," Vixy whispered. 

No one said a word, while Wolf and Slippy walked out of the room and Fara tried her best to put Fox back into his unconscious state without having him overdose on the drugs. Vixy was leaning over Marcus's bed, inspecting her grandson's head. "I never thought I'd live to see my grandson, you know," she sighed, stroking Marcus's cheek.

"I never thought Fox and I would survive long enough to have him," Krystal laughed.

Vixy smiled, laughing along, "Fox is getting worse," she suddenly said.

"I'm sorry?"

"Our Cerenian blood finally started to effect him."

"Whoa, hold up! Big twist in my life right now! Give me a few minuets."

Vixy didn't wait, and continued on, "James's father and mother were Cerenian. I'm one-hundred percent Cornerian. So that makes Fox half Cerenian and half Cornerian. He hasn't undergone any of the early stages of a Cerenian so we figured he didn't have any special 'abilities'."

"Could you just give me a minute? My brain feels like it's exploding."

"I know it's big but just try to keep up, okay?"

"That's what she said."

"What?"

"I'm sorry I say random things that I would normally never say when I'm in shock. I also ramble. Am I rambling? I really hope not. I mean, last time I was in shock I was talking for like ten minutes straight and nobody stopped me. They even recorded it, you know, then they put it on the Internet and the press got a hold of it and I had to go into hiding for like a year. Obviously you don't have a video recorder or a camera so I'm fine, but if you did have one I'd be screwed. I'm not rambling am I?"

"You're lucky you're cute, lets leave it at that."

"Dang! I really thought I had this rambling thing under control. I mean it is really annoying isn't it? One of my many flaws, I guess. Well, I guess maybe I should be thankful that everyone puts up with it, right? I guess I should also be glad I'm not dead. We came close to that conclusion huh? Say, what's wrong with Fox? You never told me. Well besides the fact that he is half Cereni-"

"Brace for immediate impact!" Falco's voice blasted through the intercom.

"Weird that we had enough time for this conversation," Krystal said, grabbing hold of Marcus's bed.

"Yeah, well, Falco's a hell-of-a pilot to keep us up for this long of a time," Fara said, finally able to knock Fox out once again. Krystal and Vixy nodded in agreement, doing there best to brace for what was coming.

The Great Fox instantly became a metal deathtrap, crashing into an ocean and sinking to the floor, launching the passengers around inside of it. As the ship sank to the bottom the crew scrambled around to get diving suits, oxygen tanks, and masks, which Falco had made sure were in the right sizes for everyone. Wolf and Sol rushed to get each suit to their individual owner. But when they reached the medical bay they encountered a huge problem. Problems, rather. Fox could not be taken off of his bed or his stitchings would come loose and he would once again lose too much blood. Marcus couldn't be taken off of his medication or he would be in intense pain, which meant he couldn't be taken off his bed either.

"Wolf, just put the masks on them and I'll grab some life rafts from the storage room that Vivian told me about. We can float the beds and equipment to the surface," Sol said, starting towards the door, only to be stopped by Wolf.

"Whoa there, buddy, you're forgetting one crucial detail," said the lupine, grabbing Sol's shoulder.

"And that is?"

"All this stuff isn't waterproof."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah."

"Um...shit, uh..." Sol suddenly snapped his fingers, "I got it! Lets wrap everything in some plastic wrap to keep any and all water out."

"You know, that would be a good idea, except we don't have plastic wrap."

"What if we just lifted the ship out of the water? Or we could just stay in here, the blast doors are air tight, I mean it _is_ a space ship," Fara said.

"I knew you wouldn't be just a waste of space," Wolf laughed, "Common Sol, were flying this thing out."

When Wolf and Sol ran out of the room Fara looked to Krystal and Vixy, "What did I saw to give Wolf the idea of flying the ship out of the water?"

"Don't ask, just go along with it," Krystal said, "Someone help me outa this damn bed, I hate just sitting around."

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry about this really short chapter! I've got a bunch of stuff suddenly dropping on me that I need to complete before I continue this. So, I'm releasing the chapter early so you guys and girls have at least this. You can expect to see me again after I finish the things I need to do. Which will probably take a few weeks. There's no use in keeping this chapter hostage if I can't work on it, right? That was a rhetorical question. Do your best to review with you're critique and or praise. Praise is always nice, but critique is much more useful. It will be much appreciated, plus the next reviewer gets an OC of their choice in this story. I tried my best to make this come to a good spot to end the chapter, but I'm not so sure I did a satisfactory job. I'm going to say "Eh, it happens to everyone" so that I feel better about myself. Whatever. Have a good one.**

"**PLACEHOLDER FOR A NEW SIGNATURE"**

**-Ben540-**

**Should I just keep that placeholder as a lazy excuse for a signature? Ha-ha. Once again, I'm sorry for such a short chapter compared to my others. My others were over 7,000 words long. Chapter two was over 9,000! Sorry, I just had to type that. This one is about 5,000 something words long. Dang, big difference.**

**A list of the OC's that have been sent to me:**

**Graystripe: Sol**

**Hopeless-Tyronos: (Character Has Not Been Sent)**

**Foxpilot: (Character Has Not Been Sent)**

**(NEXT REVIEWER): (PENDING)**


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